chapters 136-140

...

–Natasha Romanoff–

"ETA, 30 seconds!" The voice of the pilot called out over the intercom.

Natasha was sitting in the back of a Quinjet, with a lot on her mind. With only half of his Agents proving to be loyal, Fury had been deploying all of them around the clock. Natasha had led the raid against multiple Hydra bases so far with the intel they had gleaned from Sergeant Bucky Barnes. Needless to say, Steve was not happy when he found out the fate of his friend, who supposedly died back in World War 2. Natasha also wasn't exactly in Steve's good graces, at the moment, because interrogating Sergeant Barnes had been her job. He hadn't wanted Bucky to be interrogated at all, but the Winter Soldier had too much blood on his hands and too much potential information for SHIELD not to.

That's why Natasha was glad to get this emergency assignment. It was a way to get out of the current HQ Helicarrier–and therefore away from a pissed off Steve Rogers. Natasha could also finally see Layla again! Natasha had felt bad about how their 'relationship' had gone so far. They danced around each other and hooked up once, and then Natasha basically ghosted Layla. It wasn't on purpose, but that's what happened.

"We're touching down now. Friendly contact in sight. On the ground!" The pilot called out again. Natasha and a few other SHIELD Agents stepped out of the plane as soon as the hatch opened.

And there she was. Layla of the Fallen was standing in the middle of a damp field. She looked just as perfect and beautiful to Natasha as always. The way Layla's eyes lit up upon seeing her made Natasha flinch a bit. She felt even more guilty now…

Around Layla, Natasha noticed a few scattered unconscious people. These must have been some of the wizards and witches that Layla reported. They were the ones kidnapping SHIELD Agents and memory wiping them. There was also the remains of what looked to be a wooden shack. It had been destroyed by whatever flood had hit this area recently. Natasha wasn't sure where all the water came from though. Could Layla conjure water now? She'd have to ask.

"Natasha!" Before Natasha could realize what was happening, she found herself swept up in a tight hug. "Hi, Natasha! I missed you," Layla said as she held her tight.

Natasha was caught off guard!

Layla had gotten faster. Much faster! SHIELD originally had Layla's top speed clocked out just a bit above The Captain, but Layla had moved so fast there that Natasha's eyes couldn't even follow her!

Natasha hugged Layla back. She ignored the snickering the other agents gave her as they started checking over all the bodies around them. "Sorry I basically ended up ghosting you. The discovery of Hydra and just how entrenched they were in SHIELD and the government was really shocking. It was all hands on deck." Natasha said to Layla.

"It's alright." Layla replied. The Fallen Angel finally let her go.

Natasha was also surprised at how strong Layla was too. She couldn't have broken that hug if she tried with all her might! "I do want you to know, though, that I didn't consider that night to be just a fling." Natasha added.

"I'm glad! I didn't either!" Layla replied while avoiding Natasha's eyes. " I admit I was a bit lonely… at first…"

Natasha's eyes narrowed at hearing Layla say "at first." She also noticed the way Layla was suddenly trying to act so innocent. "And what do you mean by that?" Natasha asked. "Was there another woman?" Natasha honestly didn't mind if there was. She knew that she and Layla were not currently in an explicitly stated relationship. Natasha had also done a bit of reading up on Fallen Angels–with whatever lore she could find at least. One thing that always stuck out in her research was that Fallen Angels were pretty much all horndogs… With Layla's supernatural beauty, Natasha wasn't surprised if there was another woman out there.

Layla shifted in place. "There might have been one or two… or three."

"THREE!?" Natasha blurted out! Did Layla have no self-control!? It had only been two months! Natasha immediately changed her mind about not caring! "With who!?"

Layla listed them off, and Natasha didn't know what to think. "There's Hela, the Goddess of Death and Queen of Asgard. Then there's Sif, the Goddess of War and Fertility. And then there's Yasaka. She's a nine-tailed fox and basically the Yokai Queen of Kyoto on Earth DxD."

Natasha grimaced. Two of Layla's other lovers were literal goddesses, and the third one might as well be. She'd read some lore on nine-tailed foxes and if any of that were true, then they were really powerful! Natasha could admit to herself that she was feeling inadequate compared to three other women like that. She was just a slightly enhanced human after all. At least, that was the case until Layla leaned forward and kissed Natasha passionately.

The redhead spy was taken off guard momentarily before she kissed Layla back!

"Whooo! That's hot!"

"Damn! I guess Romanoff is off the market!"

"Huh? I thought she and Barton were a secret item. Guess I lost the betting pool…"

Natasha broke the kiss to glare at all the male Agents staring and hollering at her and Layla. One of her patented glares was all it took for them to immediately shut up! "Get back to work! Tie up all the unconscious magicals out here and search through the remains of that wooden shack for the others!" Natasha ordered them and they all immediately got to it.

Layla laughed at all the other agents scurrying off at her orders. "Who would have thought SHIELD Agents were such gossip queens?"

XXX

I was standing off to the side with Natasha, watching the other SHIELD Agents load up Dumbledore's group and the Weasley family onto the Quinjet. It was pretty funny seeing a bunch of magicals wearing Muggle handcuffs.

"Be careful with him." I told the Agents as I pointed to the unconscious Dumbledore. "He might be able to do some magic without his wand, but I don't know how much. Also, that one can turn himself into a black dog without a wand, and that one is a werewolf that will transform into a man-eating monster on the full moon." I pointed to Sirius and Remus next. The Agents nodded and told me they'd put those three in special containment rooms until they could be sorted out.

"We heard about werewolves when we took the Alley, but I've yet to see one in action." Natasha said as she watched them load Remus on the jet.

"I haven't seen the transformation in person either. It's supposed to be pretty gross." I explained. I imagine it must be, considering muscles and bones have to snap in order to re-contort themselves.

"So other than the…women, what have you been up to?" Natasha asked me. "You're a lot faster than you were before. Unless you were holding back then?"

In response, I let my ten wings show behind me.

Natasha stared at them in surprise. "Ten!? I thought you had four?" She asked me while inspecting them closely.

"I did have four wings. But then I ran into numerous fortuitous encounters and managed to ascend to the higher realms." I said jokingly. "My Dao is as deep as the sea and vast as the sky."

Natasha cracked a rare smile. "Nice try, Layla. I know cultivators aren't real. Ki isn't a real thing…"

"Well, actually–"

"Agent Romanoff! Miss Layla!" A SHIELD Agent ran up to us and interrupted me before I could once again break her worldview. "All prisoners have been secured for transport. The remains of the shack have been fully searched, and all the people buried in the debris have been rounded up as well. A few of them were injured, but none fatally."

"That's good," Natasha said. "I suppose we're done here then?"

"Also, ma'am, there is a little girl wanting to talk to you and Miss Layla. She says that she's Weasley's neighbor and has some important information to share." the guy said before he pointed off towards the front of the Weasley property.

I looked over, and standing over there was a younger blonde girl. I could tell by her iconic radish earrings that it was Luna Lovegood. She gave us a small wave before her eyes started to wander all over as if she was seeing things that no one else could.

I walked over towards her with Natasha right behind me. Natasha was the first to address her.

"Hello. I'm Agent Monroe. And who are you?" Natasha asked her while lying about her real name like the spy she was.

Luna snapped her gaze away from whatever she was looking at and back to us. "Hello Natasha Romanoff and Layla of the Fallen. I'm Luna Lovegood. I live right down the road." Luna said while pointing to the right. There were some hills there, so I couldn't see her house, but it wouldn't be hard to confirm.

Natasha blanched when Luna said her real name out of nowhere. She looked like she was ready to start interrogating the girl, but I put my hand on her shoulder and held her back. "So, Luna. The Agent you talked to told us you have some important information for us?" I asked her while using [observe].

[Luna Lovegood: The Girl Who Knows Things→ Level 6]

That was interesting. She had an actual title at only level 6. That meant her Seer abilities had to be for real.

"Yes. Something very bad is going to happen soon in Scotland unless you stop them." Luna said while looking off to the side again.

Natasha narrowed her eyes. "What bad thing?"

Luna turned to me. "The Dark Lord is scared of you, you know. He's really scared. You survived his strongest spells twice and then thoroughly trounced him the third time you all met. He correctly assumes that you have gotten even stronger still since then. He knows he can't beat you."

I smirked proudly. "That's good then!" Although I don't want him hiding away like a coward forever. He's worth 5 levels on top of being an evil asshole that I would happily purge for free anyway.

[Guys like him don't hide forever. They go crazy and choose to go out while taking as many people with them as possible.]

Shit, the system was right about that one. Voldemort knew he couldn't beat me, so his only option was to become a full terrorist at this point. But how would he go about doing that?

"What is he planning?" Natasha asked Luna. She didn't even bother asking how a barely 14-year-old girl knew all of this in the first place.

"He wants to fight Light with Fire." Luna said cryptically. "It's going to happen here." Luna then reached into a small pouch before pulling out a picture book that was way too big to fit in there. It was a book about the Scottish Highlands. She pointed towards a specific location in the book.

"I know where that is. I'll call in another Quinjet, and we can fly over there and check it out." Natasha said.

"There's no need for that. I'll just portal us over there." I could easily do that with a picture of the place. I opened up a purple portal next to us.

"Good luck! I hope you don't die." Luna gave us a dreamy smile, and she turned around and started skipping away back towards her house.

XXX

"So, what was with that little girl?" Natasha asked me as we stepped through my portal.

I took in the sights around us. It was beautiful—green hills as far as the eye could see. I reached out my senses to try and find where Voldemort was hiding. I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary except in one direction. There was a barrier of some kind that reminded me of the one I had just collapsed.

"Luna? She's special. She's a seer." I answered Natasha's question.

"A seer? Interesting…that kind of ability could be really useful to–eep!" Natasha let out a cute squeak as I scooped her up into my arms in a princess carry.

She then gave me a small glare as I smiled down at her. "Sorry, but it would be a pretty far walk, and Luna's warning made this seem sort of urgent. We're going to fly now." I flapped my wings and took off into the sky towards the direction of the barrier. The landscape rapidly changed under us, and 30 seconds later I landed back down right in front of the barrier.

Natasha practically leapt from my arms when I touched down. She started rubbing herself all over while shaking. "D–do you know how c-cold it is hundreds of feet in the air!?" She yelled at me while shivering. Her skin was almost turning blue…

Oh…I forgot about that. Temperatures haven't affected me for a while now. Freezing simply felt a little bit cold to me.

[You can try blessing her with your Light. That might help.]

Oh right! I could do that! I gathered my Light Energy into my palm before placing my hand on Natasha's cheek. "I bless you with the warmth of my light." Blessing someone felt strange. It was like a small part of my light slipped inside of her, and I instinctively knew it would forever protect Natasha unless I took it back.

"Wha–" Was all Natasha could get out before she temporarily shined with purple light. When it faded away, her skin had returned to its normal healthy color. "I feel–I feel warm. Interesting." Natasha noted as she checked herself over. "What did you do to me?"

"I blessed you with my light to never feel cold again…unless you want to. You could take a bath in the Arctic Ocean if you wanted to and be absolutely fine. It should have other effects as well, but I'm not sure what they are. I've never blessed a human before."

Natasha looked wistfully. "Who would have thought someone with my past would ever receive the blessing of an Angel… I'm sure a lot of the people I killed would be rolling in their graves…" She trailed off.

I wrapped her in another hug. "You can't change the past…well, you can, but I don't recommend it as you'd piss off a lot of higher-level entities. That doesn't mean you can't rectify your sins."

"Enough of this sappy crap." She said as she broke our hug. "What are we going to do about that?" Natasha asked while pointing at the shimmering barrier in front of us.

"You can see it?" I asked in surprise. It was a pure magical barrier and from my understanding, even wizards and witches could rarely see pure magic.

The interesting thing about Voldemort's barrier was that I couldn't see or hear anything through it. All I could see was a shimmering cloudiness.

[It seems like your blessing is already having other effects on her.]

I told her to stand back and put my hand on the barrier in front of us. The moment I did, I immediately felt the barrier react and some dark magic tried to lash out at me.

[-10HP]

It was barely strong enough to even scratch me. I started to apply force upon the barrier while enhancing myself with my Light. After a few moments, just like with the Weasley's, the barrier ended up completely collapsing.

And then I saw the man I had been searching for down below. Voldemort was staring up at me with a look of shock on his snakelike face. Surrounding him were a bunch of his Death Eaters. All of them were chanting around a ritual circle based with a pentagram base in the center.

"M-my lord! She's here!" Lucius Malfoy said with fear in his voice.

"Dammit! How did you find me!" Voldemort screamed at the two of us. His red eyes were glowing in fury! "The ritual was almost complete as well!"

"Did you forget Tom!?" I replied haughtily while floating off the ground slightly to make myself more intimidating. "I'm an Agent of Death. Of course I know where to find you. You'll never be able to escape her." This time, me saying that wasn't technically a lie either because I was Death's favored.

"How dare you say my Lord's name you stuck up bitch! You're nothing more than a filthy creature! I'll cut your wings off and mount them on my walls as a trophy!" A gangly woman with a foul mouth who could only be Bellatrix Lestrange screamed at me. "Avada Kedavra!" The killing curse flew forth from her wand and sailed towards me. Compared to the last time I faced this curse, it honestly looked like it was moving in slow motion. It also felt completely harmless. Like it couldn't hurt me at all. As the curse reached me, I reached my hand up…and caught it.

The sickly green spell rested in my palm. I inspected it for a moment before I swung my arm and tossed her curse right back at her! My throw had made the curse move at a far higher speed than it normally did. She had no hope of dodging

"What!?" Bellatrix shrieked! As her own spell struck her, she died with a look of shock on her face.

"You are my favored…Death magic will never be able to hurt you again…"

I shivered as I felt a familiar whisper in my ear…

XXX

–Voldemort–

"My Lord! She killed Bellatrix!" Lucius screamed next to him.

"I know!" Voldemort shouted back at him while not taking his eyes off the Angel! She was the single greatest thorn in his side he had ever had. Even Dumbledore had never infuriated Voldemort as much as Layla had. What was worse, was that Voldemort could clearly see that the Angel had gotten stronger.

The first time he saw her, she had only four wings. Now she had TEN! Voldemort knew that had to mean something! He had begrudgingly read the bible after facing her the first time to try and gleam any weaknesses of Angels. Of course, none were written in the blasted book. What he did find out though, was that the more wings an Angel had, the stronger they were!

"What should we do?" Lucius asked him again.

"Don't stop the ritual! It's our only chance at killing her!" Voldemort commanded all of his Death Eaters. They all fearfully nodded at him and continued chanting.

"Will the ritual really work? How do we know we can trust those foreigners?" Lucius asked. He was talking about those strange people who approached him a month ago. They called themselves 'The Hand' and dressed like actual cartoon ninjas… Voldemort almost killed the filthy muggles for daring to even seek him out, but then they told him they knew a way to beat the Angel. Apparently she had killed the son of their own 'Lord.'

Their Lord had sent Voldemort a gift. It was a way to fight against Layla's Light with HellFire! The Hand gave him a ritual that would allow him to summon a demon from Hell to slay Layla! This particular demon was also used to be an Angel himself. He should therefore know all of her tricks and how she fights!

It took a month to prepare all of the ingredients and sacrifices necessary to summon Belial. They were so close, and yet Layla had to show up right before they succeeded!

…

I wasn't sure what that ritual was, but it felt wrong. The pentagram in the middle also usually implied that either Devils or Hell was involved. Were they trying to call forth a demon from hell to our world?

"Any idea what that satanic ritual they're doing is Layla?" Natasha asked me as she drew her gun from its holster.

"I think they're trying to call forth a demon. Which is bad obviously. As for which one, I honestly have no idea? I also don't know if we can stop the ritual without adverse consequences."

"Well? What do we do?" Natasha asked.

I thought about it for a second. "We can ask Sorceress Supreme I guess." I replied.

Natasha raised a curious eyebrow at me. "And how are we going to do that? Does this sorceress have a cell phone?" Natasha asked jokingly.

Honestly, I had no idea if she actually did have a phone. I was leaning more towards the 'no she does not category.' Good thing I didn't need one to contact her.

A purple portal appeared right next to me. I comically stuck my head inside it. My head popped itself out right in the middle of the Ancient One's office. It looked like she and her apprentice Heather were currently having tea time. Both of them were gaping at me.

"Hi Layla!" Heather greeted me cheerfully as she snapped out of her shock.

The Ancient One took a second longer to collect herself. "In the future, please refrain from portaling directly into my study unless it is an emergency. What is it you need?"

"I found Voldemort and he's trying to summon some kind of demon. I don't really know what to do here? Can I just kill everyone and stop the ritual or…?"

Heather's eyes widened when she heard me mention Voldemort. The Ancient One let out a tired sigh. "Why do these foolish dark mages always end up summoning demons…" She lamented as she stood up. "Stay here apprentice, I shall return."

Heather looked like she wanted to protest about not coming with me but I stopped her. "Heather, remember what we talked about. You're 15, you don't have to go around fighting dark wizards. Let me handle Voldemort. This time he won't get away." I reassured her before pulling my head back.

Natasha was staring at me weirdly. "Your portals are overpowered if they let you just go anywhere at any time…"

"They sure are."

Voldemort, to my surprise, was just glaring hatefully and hadn't made a move to attack while I was distracted. Not that anything he could do could even work on me anymore. At my current level, I now realized that his supposed 'Ultimate Class' level of power was a lot more inflated than I first thought. He had the ability to cast a single Ultimate Level spell at most, but the mana cost would probably kill him. To be honest, I don't think he even knows any spells of that level anyways. Fiendfyre was pretty much the Wizarding world's most destructive spell.

A second later the Ancient One stepped out of my portal and I closed it behind her. She glanced around quickly. "Interesting. They are trying to summon Belial. And it appears they have succeeded."

"Belial?" That name sounded vaguely familiar.

"He was an Angel that fell from heaven. Instead of going to the underworld or joining the Grigori, he fled into the Hells. There he bathed in Hellfire and turned himself into a true demon. He currently rules over Gehenna." The Ancient One explained. "The ritual they are performing is already complete. It basically uses the souls of all the mortals participating in it to call Belial forth."

"Why are they still chanting then?" Natasha asked.

The Ancient One shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe they were tricked by whoever gave them the ritual?"

That could be. I wouldn't expect any of the stuck up purebloods to ever be willing to hand over their very souls to a demon. Even if Voldemort himself commanded them to do it.

My thoughts were cut off when I felt a burst of powerful dark magic emulate from the ritual circle!

"Prepare yourself. He is coming." The Ancient One said.

XXX

I could see Voldemort smiling before he started cackling! "Hahaha! Your arrogance has truly cost you, Layla of the Fallen! I have no idea why you made no move to stop the ritual, but now it is complete! Prepare yourself to be slain by a True Demon! The natural enemy of your kind!"

I looked over to the Ancient One, and she didn't seem to be that worried. Then again, this woman was always hard to read in general. Natasha was putting on a cool face as well, but I could see her gripping her pistol tightly. This was her first time facing a demon.

The summoning circle glowed bright red as the pentagram lit up!

"Arise Belial! Arise!" All of the Death Eaters chanted in unison. They had looks of excitement and reverence on all of their faces. They probably thought they were about to bring about my downfall. Seeing the smile on Voldemort's gross face was honestly disturbing.

…And then all of them slumped to the ground…dead. Lucius Mlafoy, Peter Pettigrew, and all the other members of Voldemort's inner circle died just like that. Their souls were pulled from their bodies and flew towards the being that had just appeared between them all.

He opened his mouth and swallowed all of their souls. "Mmmmm. Quite a few magical souls there! Not a bad offering." Belial muttered as he looked towards the gaping Voldemort. "A fine offering mortal! Now then, why have you summoned me?" Belial's appearance was incredibly stereotypical for a demon. He was tall and his skin was bright red. He had two large horns on his forehead and instead of human legs, he had the legs of a goat.

"You…You…My followers. They're all dead…" Voldemort trailed off. A look of realization dawned upon him. "DAMN YOU HAND! I WILL HAVE MY REV–" He was cut off when a [Lightspear] erupted out of his chest, courtesy of myself. "Graaaaaagghh!" Voldemort let out a willful shriek before he collapsed to his knees. He tried to pull the [Lightspear] out but it was too late. Voldemort burst apart and turned into a pile of ashes. I wasn't letting that guy escape again and I was frankly tired of fighting him. Since he died to an Angel's light, his soul will also not be able to stay in the mortal world. He'll be going straight to Lady Death's domain. I'm sure he'll enjoy her hospitality…

[You have leveled up x5!]

[Layla of the Fallen: Angel of Hope, Death's Favored]

[Level: 46]

[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Anywhere]

[HP: 13000]

[MP: 9200]

[Vigor: 800]

[Strength: 140]

[Intelligence: 920]

[Luck: 100]

[Skills: Observe 3, Angelic Mastery 4, Acting 3, Light Manipulation 7, HP to MP Conversion, Mana Burst]

[Perks: Never Tell Me the Odds, Lucky Shot, Mana Replenisher]

[Drawbacks: Sin of Lust]

[Available Free Stat Points: 60]

[Skill Up Point: 0]

I dumped all of my free stat points into Intelligence to bring it to 980. I was expecting a fight here soon. Demon's didn't like to leave Earth once they managed to arrive. Especially one like Belial that had been summoned at his full power. It was very hard for them to get here with their full powers considering they had to be properly summoned for that to happen. If a demon came to Earth on their own, they could only use an avatar which would weaken themselves by forcing them to split their powers. If their weak avatar is killed, then they lose that fragment of themselves forever.

"Really, Layla? Resorting to sneak attacks are we?" The Ancient One said with mock disappointment as she watched Voldemort turn to ash.

"Well that happened…" Natasha muttered as she lowered her gun. Then she remembered the demon was still here and pointed it at Belial.

Belia didn't seem upset that the one who summoned him died. He shrugged and turned towards the three of us. "Well well well. If it isn't the Ancient One herself! And who is that I spy next to you!? Why, it's one of my long lost siblings! Where have you all been? Haven't seen any of you feathery bastards in over 1000 years!" Belial's blood red eyes met my violet ones. He grinned menacingly, displaying rows of razor sharp teeth.

"Father transported us all to an alternate dimension, but now we've found a way back. I'd be a lot more careful of your actions from now on, Belial. Turn around and fuck back off to hell or else." I said as I scanned him.

[Belial: The Demon King of Gehenna→ Level 69]

Fuck… I wasn't winning against that without going all out from the start.

Twelve demented wings made of infernal fire manifested behind Belial. "Hoh? I should be careful of a mere Cadre? You dare order me to return when I just got here?" He asked menacingly. "No! I don't think I will!" Power surged around him and I could tell the time for talking was over.

Natasha fired her weapon next to me. To my surprise, the bullet she fired was glowing dark purple. It had been infused with some of the Light I'd blessed her with! It wasn't enough power to be dangerous for the likes of Belial though. Belial raised his hand and caught the bullet out of the air.

He scoffed. "Pathetic mortal weapons!" He flicked his finger and the bullet went sailing back at Natasha at twice the speed of sound! I quickly threw my body in front of her to save her!

[-30 HP]

"Hahaha! To so willingly throw yourself in front of a mortal who you even blessed yourself. She must be your lover, sister! I will enjoy breaking her in after I break you!" Belial taunted. He raised his hand and a large fireball the size of a car manifested above him.

Natasha looked frightened and I felt genuine anger! "You won't touch her! MANA BURST!"

[- 4000 MP!]

[Vigor: 800→1200!]

[Strength: 140→540!]

[Intelligence: 980→1380!]

"What the fuck!?" Belial screamed out as I felt my power absolutely skyrocket!

XXX