The overcast sky had been gathering its strength for a long time before a torrential downpour finally fell. Lightning tore through the heavy clouds, thunder rolled across the void, and bean-sized raindrops hammered the ground, splashing up a hazy mist.
All of New York had become a massive battlefield between Hell and the Sanctums. As the defenses of the material world collapsed, the number of dark minions surged. Led by the six Hell Lords, those hellish creatures poured into the Mirror Dimension like a flood.
A gigantic Flame Demon, a full thirteen feet tall, appeared on Broadway. Its body was covered in sulfur and flames, massive bull horns grew from its head, and it carried a crude battle-axe on its shoulders. Its hoof-like legs crushed a car flat as it charged toward the New York Sanctum.
A squad of Demon Hunters fired alchemical firearms, their mercury-mixed bullets blasting into the Flame Demon. Weapons that were immensely lethal to the Blood Clan posed no threat at all to the Flame Demon, protected as it was by a layer of keratinous armor.
Scorching heat surged along Broadway, steaming up white mist. Amid the pouring rain, the Flame Demon roared and swung its giant axe, while the Sanctum Sorcerers forming the defensive line raised their artifacts. Dazzling magic circles rose beneath their feet as they borrowed immense power from the Trinity of the Vishanti.
Battles like this were erupting throughout the city. A skeletal dragon with wings spread wide enough to blot out the sky crouched atop the Statue of Liberty. Its pale skull lifted in a furious roar, ghostly flames burning dimly within its hollow eye sockets.
On Wall Street at the World Financial Center, a nightmare wreathed in sinister energy smashed through the famous Charging Bull and galloped wildly through southern