The ruined chapel was silent once more, except for the sound of Gabriel's ragged breathing. Nyx, now an enormous silhouette of living darkness, paced silently beside him. The hunters from the previous encounter had been left alive, trapped in shadow bindings that allowed Gabriel to watch and experiment. Pain radiated through Gabriel's body from Alex's ongoing battles in Hell, but it no longer crippled him. Instead, it fueled him, flowing into the shadows that obeyed his every thought.
Gabriel stood slowly, silver eyes gleaming.
"So… if one shadow obeys me…" he murmured, voice calm and cold, "…then what about more?"
He raised both hands. The shadows beneath him rippled like liquid, dark spikes twisting and growing longer. Nyx barked softly, sensing Gabriel's intent.
"Nyx," he whispered. "Help me. Let's see how far this can go."
The massive wolf growled and stepped forward, merging with the shadows. The tendrils began splitting, forming smaller, yet fully functional shadow wolves. One became two, two became four, then eight—until the floor of the chapel seemed alive with writhing black creatures, each with glowing silver eyes.
Gabriel smiled faintly.
"Good… they listen."
The shadows moved in perfect sync, forming a semi-circle around him. Each one was an extension of his power, fueled by the agony he absorbed from Alex. With every movement, every strike Alex survived, Gabriel's army would grow stronger.
He tested it first on the trapped hunters.
With a subtle gesture, one shadow wolf lunged forward, its claws passing through the bindings and striking the nearest hunter. Pain radiated outward as the hunter struggled, but the attack was precise, designed to wound and intimidate without killing.
Gabriel nodded.
"Yes… good."
Another surge of pain from Alex—he could feel it now in waves, each hit and scratch echoing in his chest like lightning. The shadows reacted, growing in size, doubling in number again.
Gabriel's smile widened.
"This is just the beginning… Once Alex fights the stronger heirs, once he challenges the true princes of Hell…"
He extended his arms, and the shadows around him shot forward, testing new forms. Some became wolves, others serpentine, some even humanoid, moving like dark soldiers ready for battle.
Nyx circled him protectively, now fully a part of the shadow army, a general in Gabriel's growing legion.
Gabriel's silver eyes glimmered as he looked at his creations.
"Lucifer cursed me to suffer… to be bound to my brother's pain…" he whispered. "But now… I am more than the curse. I am the power it created. And when the time comes… the whole of Hell will learn the cost of my suffering."
A sudden surge of pain hit him, stronger than before. His entire body burned, and he fell to his knees briefly. The shadows quivered violently in response, as if feeding on the agony directly.
Gabriel gritted his teeth, forcing himself to rise.
"Good," he murmured. "Pain is the forge… and I am the weapon."
He stepped forward, and the army of shadows followed, moving with lethal precision, responding to his every thought.
The trapped hunters stared, wide-eyed, as the shadows shifted into dozens of forms—wolves, serpents, humanoid warriors—all perfectly synchronized.
Gabriel's silver eyes scanned the room.
"Soon… the world will know me. And Hell… Hell will finally understand what it means to create a monster from pain."
Nyx growled, a low rumble that vibrated through the chapel. Gabriel extended his hand toward the ceiling.
"Let's see… what more I can create."
The shadows writhed, splitting and multiplying faster than the eye could follow. Each one a fragment of his growing power, each one a testament to the agony from Alex's battles.
Gabriel smiled faintly.
"This is just the beginning… the first army born of pain. And soon… nothing will stop me."