Uriel's spear of crystallized sunfire blazed like a captive star, its radiance so intense that the broken subway tiles began to smoke and crack. Around the ancient Seraph, hundreds of angelic warriors raised their own weapons in perfect synchronization, their combined light threatening to reduce the entire station to its component atoms.

"Wait." Azrael stepped forward, Dawnbreaker still blazing in his grip but held in a non-threatening position. "You want to execute me in front of the whole ...