Chapter 75 Corruption Level (Sam POV)

Chapter 75 Corruption Level (Sam POV)
"Grandma?" I stare. "How did you...you're supposed to be under house arrest! How did you even know we were here?"
"I've been following you all day through scrying mirrors and tracking spells." Lucinda moves between me and the angels. "Sam, I know you don't trust me. Know you think I've been Asmodai's agent for thirty years. But right now, in this moment, I'm choosing to be your grandmother instead of anyone's puppet. These angels want to kill you for wearing an artifact I gave you. That's not happening."
"Lucinda Drewsbury." Uriel's voice carries recognition. "The compromised hunter. We have orders regarding you as well. You're to be detained and questioned about your role in distributing stolen celestial property."
"Good luck with that." Lucinda raises her hands, and the air around her shimmers with wards I don't recognize. "Uriel, I've been hunting supernatural threats for eighty years. I've fought demons, rogue fae, corrupted psychics, and yes...a few angels who overstepped their authority. I know how celestial enforcement works. Know your limitations. Know your protocols. And I know you're currently violating those protocols by attacking before the corruption threshold is crossed."
"The threshold is irrelevant when the Nephilim possesses stolen property." Uriel doesn't sound concerned by Lucinda's intervention. "The artifact takes priority. We have standing orders from celestial command to recover it by any means necessary."
"Then you'll have to go through both of us." Lucinda's wards solidify into something that looks like armor made of crystallized magic. "Uriel, I've been preparing for this confrontation for thirty years. Been stockpiling weapons and spells specifically designed to counter angelic enforcement. You want the artifact? You want my granddaughter? Come take them."
The seven angels attack simultaneously.
What follows is chaos beyond anything I've experienced. Lucinda fights with precision born from decades of experience, her crystallized magic armor deflecting celestial fire while she strikes back with weapons that actually hurt angels, iron blessed by forgotten gods, salt harvested from dead seas, oils extracted from plants that predate Eden.
"Sam, run!" Lucinda shouts while engaging three angels at once. "Get to the fragment location! Destroy it while I hold them off!"
"I'm not leaving you!" I channel power through the artifact, trying to help. "Grandma, they'll kill you!"
"They'll try!" Lucinda laughs, and it's the laugh of someone who's been waiting eighty years for this fight. "Sam, I've been compromised by Asmodai for thirty years! Been his unknowing agent while thinking I was protecting family! But compromised or not, programmed or not, I'm still a Drewsbury! Still a hunter! And I'm not letting angels murder my granddaughter for crimes I committed!"
Kieran pulls me away from the battle. "Sam, Lucinda's right! We use this distraction to reach the fragment! Complete the destruction while angels are occupied!"
"But..." I watch Lucinda take a blast of celestial fire that should kill her but doesn't because her crystallized armor absorbs the impact. "Kieran, she's going to die buying us time!"
"Then don't waste that time!" Marcus appears beside us, providing covering fire with weapons that won't hurt angels but create enough noise to confuse their coordination. "Sam, move! Fragment location is two blocks east! Kieran and I will provide support! You destroy that artifact before Uriel reorganizes his team!"
I run. Hate myself for running, hate leaving Lucinda to fight seven angels alone, but Kieran and Marcus are right, this is the opportunity we need. The distraction that lets us complete the mission.
We reach the fragment location, a parking garage where reality is thin enough that I can sense the ancient artifact buried in dimensional space beneath the concrete. I touch the artifact around my neck, preparing to channel the power required for destruction.
"Wait." Kieran grabs my wrist. "Sam, your corruption. Check your corruption level before you destroy this fragment. If the battle with angels pushed you closer to threshold..."
I focus inward, sensing the percentage. Still eighty-six point eight. The barrier I created didn't increase corruption because I was defending, not attacking. Relief floods through me.
"Still safe." I show Kieran. "Eighty-six point eight percent. I can destroy this fragment without crossing threshold."
"Then do it fast." Kieran takes up defensive position. "Sam, Lucinda's distraction won't last forever. Once Uriel realizes we've fled to complete the mission, he'll send part of his team after us."
I channel power into the fragment. Golden fire flows from the artifact through dimensional barriers, reaching the ancient Nephilim creation hiding beneath physical reality. The fragment resists, it was made to last eternally, made to survive anything, but my bloodline recognizes it as kin and that recognition becomes the weapon.
The fragment shatters. My corruption ticks up, eighty-seven point one percent.
"No!" I stare at my hands, feeling the increase. "That shouldn't...I calculated this perfectly! Point six percent increase per fragment! I should be at eighty-seven point four, not seven point one!"
"The battle with angels must have affected the equation." Kieran checks my aura professionally. "Sam, you just crossed the execution threshold. You're at eighty-seven point one percent. Angels can legally kill you now without waiting for ritual completion."
"Then we keep moving!" I start running toward the next fragment location. "Kieran, four fragments left! If I'm already past threshold, I might as well complete all destructions! Push to eighty-nine or ninety percent! At least then the mission will be finished!"
"Sam, that's suicide!" Kieran runs beside me. "If you push to ninety percent..."
"I'll transform into something other than human! I know!" My voice rises. "But Kieran, I already crossed threshold! Angels are going to execute me anyway! Might as well make that execution count for something!"
We reach the car. Marcus is there, bleeding from a cut across his forehead but alive.
"Lucinda?" I ask desperately.
"Still fighting." Marcus starts the engine. "Sam, your grandmother is...she's incredible. She's holding off seven angels using weapons I've never seen and magic I didn't know existed. But she won't last much longer. We need to finish fragment destruction and get to Pike Place Market before Uriel realizes his tactical error in attacking early."
"How long does Lucinda have?" I buckle in as Marcus drives with reckless speed toward the next location.
"Twenty minutes. Maybe thirty if she's lucky." Marcus takes a turn too fast. "Sam, Lucinda knows she's not surviving tonight. She made her choice. Honor it by completing the mission."