The Golden Griffin was having the most chaotic service in its two-hundred-year history.
At the center table, little Elara was currently working on a towering, six-tier chocolate sundae. Her face was covered in fudge, and for the first time since she fell from the sky, she was giggling.
Demon Lord Malakor, the absolute terror of the Ashen Wastes, was delicately using a pristine white napkin to wipe a drop of ice cream off her chin. "Careful, Young Miss," his deep, rumbling voice whispered gently. "Brain freeze is a foul and treacherous magic."
Maya smiled, sipping her espresso. Leo was leaning back in his chair, patting his stomach after finishing a massive, perfectly cooked steak. It was the perfect, peaceful family dinner.
Until the ceiling ceased to exist.
There was no explosion, just a blinding flash of golden light that completely atomized the restaurant's crystal chandelier and the roof above it. The night sky over Aethelgard was pushed aside by a swirling vortex of pure, oppressive divine energy.
A choir of ethereal, booming voices echoed through the city. The human patrons in the restaurant instantly dropped to their knees, weeping from the sheer, overwhelming majesty of the aura.
Four figures slowly descended from the rift.
They were Seraphim Enforcers—towering, beautiful beings with six wings of solid light, wearing armor made of condensed starlight. Their eyes burned with absolute, emotionless authority.
The moment their feet touched the marble floor, the holy energy in the room spiked.
Malakor and Kaelen immediately fell to one knee, their demonic skin sizzling and smoking just from being in the presence of the Enforcers. Over at the side table, Generals Pavan, Karthik, and Aman groaned in agony, their spiked armor glowing red-hot as the holy magic actively tried to purge their dark existence.
"Foul creatures," the Lead Enforcer, Lumiel, spoke. His voice was like grinding crystal. He didn't even look at the Demon Lords. His burning eyes locked onto Elara, who had dropped her spoon in sheer terror, hiding her face in Maya's side.
"The half-breed abomination has been located," Lumiel announced to the sky. "Surrender the child, mortals. She is a stain upon the Domain of the Gods and has been sentenced to the Void."
Maya didn't move. She just set her espresso cup down on its saucer. Clink. "Hey, glow-stick," Leo called out lazily, not even bothering to stand up. "We're kind of in the middle of dessert here. You're letting a draft in."
Lumiel slowly turned his burning gaze to Leo. "Impudent human. You shelter a forbidden mistake. I shall cleanse this entire city to ensure her erasure."
The Enforcer raised his hand, summoning a Javelin of Pure Radiance. It was a weapon designed to pierce mountains and vaporize oceans. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled it directly at Elara.
Malakor and Kaelen screamed, trying to dive in front of the attack, completely willing to die rather than face Maya's wrath for failing to protect the kid.
But they weren't fast enough.
Leo, however, was already standing.
He didn't dodge. He didn't cast a protective barrier. He simply reached out and grabbed the Javelin of Pure Radiance mid-flight. The apocalyptic weapon hissed and sparked in his bare hand, trying to detonate, but Leo's grip was absolute.
"You know," Leo sighed, looking at the glowing spear. "I hate when people throw things at my table."
With a casual flex of his wrists, Leo snapped the divine javelin over his knee like a dry twig. The holy weapon shattered into harmless, glittering dust.
The four Seraphim Enforcers froze. Their emotionless faces cracked into expressions of sheer, unadulterated shock. A mortal had just broken divine magic with his bare hands.
Then, the temperature in the room plummeted to absolute zero.
Maya stood up.
She wasn't wearing her sunglasses. Her eyes were completely black, radiating a pressure so dense that the floorboards groaned. The divine light from the angels began to visibly dim, suffocated by her sheer presence.
"You interrupted my date night," Maya whispered, her voice carrying an echoing, terrifying resonance. "You ruined the roof. And worst of all... you made my daughter drop her ice cream."
Lumiel took a step back, his instincts screaming at him that this woman was a predator and he was prey. "A-Abomination! What are you?!"
Maya didn't answer. She blurred across the room, completely ignoring the laws of physics. Before Lumiel could even raise his holy shield, Maya grabbed him by his glowing, golden halo.
She used it like a steering wheel.
With a vicious, fluid motion, she slammed the Lead Enforcer face-first into the marble floor with enough force to create a crater. The restaurant shook violently.
The other three angels drew their swords in a panic, but Leo was already behind them. He tapped the nearest Enforcer on the shoulder.
When the angel turned, Leo casually flicked him in the forehead. The kinetic shockwave launched all three Enforcers backward, sending them flying up through the hole in the roof and back into the sky, screaming the entire way.
Maya stood over the cratered, groaning Lead Enforcer. She leaned down, grabbing him by the collar of his starlight armor.
"Listen to me very carefully," Maya ordered, her voice ice-cold. "Go back up to your little glowing clubhouse and tell whatever God is in charge that Elara is officially a Goud. We've adopted her. If you ever send another pigeon down here to bother her again... Leo and I are going to come up there and turn the Heavens into a parking lot. Do you understand?"
Lumiel, his nose broken and his halo bent completely out of shape, nodded frantically.
Maya tossed him aside. "Get out."
The Enforcer scrambled to his feet, shooting into the sky like a frightened firework, disappearing back into the golden rift before it snapped shut.
The restaurant was dead silent. The sky was dark again.
Maya took a deep breath, smoothing her dress, her terrifying aura vanishing instantly. She turned back to the table and smiled warmly at the stunned little girl.
"Well," Maya chirped cheerfully. "Who wants to order another sundae?"
From the corner of the room, General Pavan weakly raised his spiked hand. "I... I will gladly fetch the ice cream, Lady Maya. Just please do not hurt me."