Some time earlier, before the apostle's arrival, around the time Bailey was sacrificed to allow the angel to descend into the mortal realm, that same angel rose above the forest to prevent the devil from killing her only hope of defeating him.
The people below were no longer her concern. Whatever happened to them would mean little if she failed to eliminate the being she believed to be God's greatest enemy.
As she ascended, the angel had already prepared herself for what she might encounter.
She expected the Seraphim to be badly damaged, perhaps struggling to maintain its existence after confronting such a terrifying opponent. There was even the possibility that she would arrive too late, only to discover that the celestial being had already been destroyed.
Yet none of those possibilities could have prepared her for what awaited her in the sky.
The devil was still there, his monstrous figure appearing no different from what she had witnessed before.
