The clash between former brothers erupted with the force of a contained star going supernova. Azrael's silver-black flame met Uriel's divine radiance in an explosion that reduced the cathedral's remaining stained glass to glittering powder. Stone that had stood for centuries cracked and flowed like water under the assault of competing energies that belonged in no earthly realm.

Uriel moved with the fluid precision of eons spent in perfect service, its spear of crystallized sunfire carving arcs ...