ExoSaint – Chapter 14: "The Beast That Devours
**Outer Wall – Sector Omega**
The border fence around Zion's Edge shimmered with light-based shields—technology fused with sacred codes. For centuries, no enemy had breached it.
Until tonight.
A vibration cracked through the air.
Then a howl—not animal, not human. Something older. Something starving.
An ExoSaint patrol squad stationed nearby stood frozen. Before they could reach their mechs, the ground beneath them broke open.
From it, **a monstrous shape emerged**: A seven-headed chimera, each head whispering in a different language—Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Sumerian, and three unknown.
One name burned across their battlefield screens:
> **Designation: SEAL BEAST 02 – GLUTTONY.**
---
**ExoSaint Tower – Command Room**
"Sector Omega has fallen!"
"Repeat, contact lost with Patrol Squad 22!"
"Energy anomaly increasing—code black!"
The command room descended into chaos.
Inside, **Archbishop Lior** stood unmoving, eyes closed in prayer.
"Lord," he whispered. "If this is the Second Beast… then the War is upon us."
Saral and Abraham rushed in, already suited in light exo gear. Ezra followed behind.
"We're going," Abraham said firmly.
Lior didn't even glance at them. "The Church has authorized full purge protocol. No survivors allowed in breach zones."
Saral's eyes widened. "They're going to kill everyone—including wounded civilians!"
"That is our law," Lior replied. "When a Seal breaks, contamination is irreversible."
Abraham stepped forward. "Then break your laws."
Everyone turned.
He continued. "Let me go alone. I stopped the first creature. I can stop this one too."
Ezra grabbed his arm. "You'll die."
Abraham looked at him. "Then I die with purpose."
Saral touched her own chest. "He doesn't go alone."
Lior growled. "You two are flamebearers. If you fall, we lose the Ark's bloodline."
"We never asked to carry it," Saral shot back. "But we *will* fight with it."
---
### **Moments Later – Deployment Airship "Sword of Zion"**
The wind roared as the three of them stood inside the hovering carrier.
Saral's fingers touched the silver ring Abraham gave her. It pulsed faintly.
"I think it's reacting to the Beast," she said.
Abraham nodded. "It's calling out to your blood."
Ezra handed Abraham a crystal shard. "Inject this if the Beast touches you. It will delay spiritual corruption. Not cure it."
Abraham took it. "How long?"
"Maybe an hour."
"Then I'll kill it in ten minutes."
---
### **Sector Omega – Ground Zero**
The moment they dropped from the airship, they felt it.
**The hunger.**
The Second Seal Beast towered over broken towers, devouring fallen machines and bodies alike. Its stomach was a writhing hole of black flame. One head wept acid. Another spat ice. Another whispered the sins of every soul it saw—secrets from the soldiers' pasts, echoing in their heads.
Abraham stood firm. "Saral, the ring."
She threw it to him.
He slipped it on.
**BOOM.**
His body lit up in golden veins. The air bent around him.
From his back—two faint wings of fire flickered into view.
> "And lo, the flame shall grow wings of light,
> And it shall not burn the worthy."
> —Book of Saints, 11:4
He sprinted forward—faster than a bullet.
The beast roared as Abraham **punched its central head**, ripping it off with flaming fists.
But another grew in its place.
Behind him, Saral stood still, focusing. The ground beneath her feet lit up with white glyphs.
"Come on…" she whispered. "Awaken."
Her eyes glowed.
Suddenly—*BOOM.*
A burst of light erupted from her chest. A **cross-shaped seal** appeared behind her, made entirely of glowing script. Her hands moved instinctively into a combat prayer stance.
Ezra shouted over the wind. "She's activating her blood!"
Saral opened her eyes.
> "In the name of the Father… the Ark… and the Flame."
She leapt.
White wings of scripture extended behind her, guiding her through the sky.
Abraham and Saral attacked together.
The beast screamed as holy fire and word-forged light tore through its heads. Its black stomach tried to absorb Abraham—but he stabbed the ring-hand into it, shouting:
> "My body is not your vessel!"
The fire exploded from his veins.
The beast **shattered**—black shards raining down like ash.
---
### **Aftermath**
Abraham knelt in the crater, coughing blood. The crystal Ezra gave him had cracked—but he was still conscious.
Saral helped him up. She was glowing, literally, for a moment.
"You… you flew," he whispered.
She smiled. "You burned."
They laughed—tired, broken, and relieved.
Ezra landed near them. "That wasn't the last Beast."
"We know," they said together.
---
### **Somewhere Far Beneath Zion…**
Chains rattled.
A cage cracked.
A voice, deep and ancient, whispered:
> "Two Flames united.
> The Gate draws near.
> Break the Third Seal."
Eyes opened in the dark.
---
End of Chapter 14