The other brother let out a war cry, summoning his legion of Devils, who had been in hiding all this time. The devils swarmed the unit of elite angels, charging into it. Ratella doubted the swarm would pose any threat to the unit of elite, including Temperance, so he left them to their own devices, focusing on the charging enemy ahead of him.
"You bastard! You'll pay for what you did to my brother!" shouted the first brother, grasping the fallen mace of his brother and swinging it both at Ratella's direction.
His fury had blinded all sense within his mind, the poisonous bloodlust sinking its teeth further into his mind, reducing him to a mindless rage-filled monster.
Ratella dodged the maces, but he neglected to consider the man's hand-sharpened wings as they thrust for his heart. They impacted with the base of his own wings, which had come to his aid, moving to protect their master subconsciously.
The sharpened wings impacted his own, leaving a slight gash on his feathers, which quickly closed and healed completely.
Ratella's mind twisted with fury at being harmed because of his carelessness.
"You dare touch my wings from your lowly position!"
Thrusting the lance into his maces, the brother's guard was swiftly shattered to pieces, leaving him defenseless against Ratella's incoming wings, all sharpened, lodging them into his limbs.
He raised the Devil high into the air, displaying his sorry state to all his soldiers. His action caused the angels and devils to stop their skirmish and look upwards at the horrific state of the aspect.
"You will all leave this place before you become like that one," ordered Ratella, pointing towards the impaled brother thrown to the side once his fight with the remaining brother started.
The Devils swiftly ran away, shivering with terror at the man's brutality.
"Mister Bloody Baron, are you still conscious?"
Ratella walked over to the man's brother, putting his foot against the man's labored chest, his breath shallow, but signs of life still evident in the man's form.
"Get off him, now," spat the remaining brother, clenching the wings impaling him, trying to pry himself free, but his efforts were fruitless.
"Tell where the Sins are, and I will happily release my grip on your brother's life."
"I don't know where the Sins are! We haven't received orders from Lust or Sloth for months. I can't even tell if they're still alive!"
"Oh, they are alive, but do you have any idea of where they might be?"
"No!"
"If you aren't of any worth, then I suppose neither is your brother."
Ratella placed the tip of his lance upon the Devil's skull, steadily pressing the weapon deeper into the skin.
"Please!" shouted the man, blackish blood now dripping from his mouth, drenching his clothes crimson.
"Think really hard about where they might be. Both of your survival hinges on it."
"I can't tell you I'm just a lower-ranking commander of a couple of hundred devils. I don't have the information you are looking for!"
Ratella's wide grin was soon wiped away by disappointment at the man's uselessness. While he was a traitor and wouldn't fight the Sins, he still didn't want to go looking for them aimlessly.
The mental strain and boredom of searching a barren wasteland endlessly would drive him crazy.
"Then you are declaring your uselessness to me, then?"
His question was simple but didn't require an answer. The answer was known to everyone on the battlefield, including the question's target.
The man impaled on his wings tried to speak to express his opinion, but his words rang out hollow, being replaced by the sound of gargling blood.
Ratella drove the tip of his lance into the Devil's skull underneath his boot, splitting his skull in two. The other brother's eyes widened with terror and sorrow, tears draping down his face, his struggles growing more violent.
"Bastard! Bastard! I'm going to kill you for this!"
Ratella brought the man over the crack in the looming void below, telling no tales of the depth and the many people held in its confines.
"Don't worry, you don't have time to drown in your sorrows," stated Ratella, a charming smile spreading across his face, revealing no indication of the horrific actions he had taken against the brothers.
Ratella wrapped his wings around the man's limbs, forcing them into his flesh and securing their position in his body.
Violently, he ripped the wings out of the man's flesh, taking his limbs with their movements, committing the man into a free fall to the endless void below.
His body collided with stray rocks lining the wall of the crack, disrupting all sense with his head, making his wings useless in the absence of reason.
Ratella watched the man fall until his figure was no longer visible, shrouded by darkness.
"See, I told you I wouldn't lose myself. Just having a little fun with my food, that's all."
Ratella rubbed Liliana's chin, comforting the bird and banishing her worries about his lack of self-control.
She wasn't unnerved by his behavior; she was relieved that he had managed to keep himself under control. She had committed more horrific actions than the ones Ratella displayed today. Being a Horseman was a title that required lots of blood on our hands.
The personality residing in this devilish nature had come out in full display to all his angelic allies standing behind him.
He amply discarded the severed limbs in his possession, tossing them into the void below, letting them join their master in death.