As soon as Fenn and the Allegiance crashed into the building, the Champion had already surrounded the pair, now down to just Lily. His Light Angels began a perfect coordinated attack from multiple angles, she would be hard pressed to avoid them due to their speed, timing, and direction. They were not this fast before, it seems a good commander would make all the difference when it came to these angels. With no room for a counter-attack amidst the followed-up assaults, each angel only going in for one strike before flying away quickly, only for one of it's colleagues to attack from another angle, the Champion would fly high above Lily, and speed in a sharp dive towards her with blade at the ready. The Champion was not messing around, he knew his duty, and he intended to fulfil it. Fenn's fight with the Allegiance would buy the Champion some time to fight Lily before he would start to have to worry about two opponents. As the Champion came down upon Lily, she could see that the Light Angels moved to his command, but they were also covering his blind spots... This may prove difficult. Should she focus their commander? Or cut down the men who would defend him?

---

It seems everyone has chosen their opponents, the half demon on the other side and the machine will take the half-demon general of Mundus, and Wrath would choose to buy time for them to beat him, but alone, how much time can he buy? The Gorgon is a snake-like demon, much like her mother Echidna, mother of beasts, in legends the Gorgon is a type of snake witch monster, with the same abilities of a Medusa in almost every way, including their petryifying gaze. As Wrath attempted to crash the pommel of his blade into her, she twirled her small dagger, unbalancing his pose for the next part of his Crushing Slash, but it seems he expected this much, but he did not expect the rest. In his staggered pose, he was petrified, he noticed it, that piercing gaze that followed up her parry.

"My, you're only a little stunned, was it my good looks? Usually...", for the few moments, she had the freedom to step closer and cup the Nephilim's chin.

"Everyone turns to stone, with a terrified glare", as soon as she finished speaking, made rapid backflips as the stun wore off on him. That was a petrifying glare... Had he human physiologies, he would have suffered a lot more than just being frozen in place for a moment.

It was clear to Wrath now, she was powerful, even though she was inexperienced as a demon, her powers were the real deal, and not to be taken lightly, her twin snakes gather around her again, it seems he may have to deal with more than just her abilities.

---

As Akoni peered into the shell beyond Sevrin, he would immediately be fed back an image of darkness, corruption... Something defiled, it was strange, he felt like he just peered into the image of something disgusting, the image of something divine corrupted beyond measure. It was nauseating as he was forced to his knees. One thing was clear, as he would recompose himself... This was not the image of a pure demon.

"Oooh I felt that one. Looks like you did too", Sevrin chuckled a little bit as he took a few steps towards the centre of the walkway, between the sole bookshelves they could see here.

"Also while you're looking for exorcism spells, probably bring an old priest and little boy with you, I swear it will help hehehaha...", he seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Still, this is the first time anyone's asked for my name in a millennia, a little refreshing I must say, but I'm afraid I'll keep you all in suspense. After all, you people are into surprises right? Oh don't lie to me, I saw how jubilant you all were when I destroyed that seal, it was hilarious! Really lifts the heart when you make other people's lives a whole lot more interesting, really melts my ice cold heart, am I right? Hehahahaha...", he was taunting them, and revelling in it.

As he spoke, the light spell that Akoni cast fly behind him, and split... There was nothing but darkness behind him, the light could not even reach the ground, it was like the area behind him was being eaten by some kind of force.

"Also I did warn you... You really don't want to get the librarian mad...", the party felt their breath go short for one moment, like the darkness behind Sevrin had claimed them... This 'librarian' he mentioned... No longer looked like a taunting muse...

Midori watched patiently as Akoni took the tablet from her and slid it into place so that contraption of the door could do the rest. He gave a quick explanation to the other tablet holder as Midori simply nodded a few times behind him thinking this was the right thing to do too.

The door moved! That was something that was suppose to happen so it worked! Midori was a little proud of herself but more happy they could move on and get out of this creepy place. She would much rather do something else then wander around in old libraries.

Just as they passed through something quite odd was going on. There was someone standing in the room with them. She couldn't make out who it was since it was far to dark in the room for her to see. She stayed close by the old man as he seemed to know the person and wasn't too happy about it. Just like Mary and all the others. Midori decided to ready herself, something in her said this was gonna get fierce. Scales started forming all over her body.

Akoni casted some sort of lighting spell that illuminated almost the entire room so they wouldn't be hindered by the darkness when they had to fight. To be honest, it was quite scary to fight someone. She didn't have to do it much and would rather refrain from doing it but knowing how bad he is by destroying the second seal she had to gather the courage to beat him right here.

After hearing him talk she realised something. Her house had been shattered by this guy. Just like how he messed up her peaceful life by getting her into this association thing. He was truly evil himself. She inhaled as her cheeks grew just slightly. Darker scaled were forming onto her cheeks and mouth as her skin started glowing a radiant color. She was gathering fire in her mouth to burn him if he attacked. For the moment she would listen to him as the temperature in her mouth kept rising.

With Blair's strength, having been increased do to being in her Blood Rage form, she rained down her flurry of blows. Despite missing most of them, she still managed to accomplish her goal by getting closer and connecting on a vicious Crunch Stomp. However, while her strength is surely increased while in her Blood Rage mode, and perfect for close combat, she's merely a wild beast who lives on carnage when in this form.

But that doesn't exactly mean she's mindless, it's just that her urge to destroy is amplified when in close proximity. Given this form already replaces her usual calm and collected self by said urge, this side-effect doesn't really help the current situation much. The result? In what should've been a killing blow, her spear managed to find itself caught in the gap of Kushiel's trident, halting not only her attack but her advance as well.

The situation didn't get any better when the archangel revealed his next technique, removing Zalmonah from her hands and trapping it into the ground. With Blair now wide open, Kushiel immediately followed it up by delivering a drop kick to her chest, sending her flying backwards. Her spear soon found itself in the possession of the angel, now sporting a spear in each hand. However, instead taking advantage of the situation and throwing one of the spears at her when she was down, he decided to hold onto both spears.

Either out of fear of his own spear being used against him as well, or her getting her spear back, or possibly both. His refusal to do so allowed Blair the time to calm down, being a good distance away her amplified bloodlust ceased, to the point where she can now consciously switch styles. Reverting back to her "Blood Oath" style, she feigned an inability to move by remaining on her back, giving her more time, as she began casting her next spell.

Waiting for Kushiel to move in closer, she ambushed him by hitting him with "Bloody Sunday", a weaker but more numerous version of Bloody Spikes, assailing him with relentless swarm of bloody spikes, that rained down, hitting everything in the area including the ground, creating a sandstorm/smoke screen. Taking advantage of this, she made her next move. Blair than followed that up by using "Bloodline", a spear-like 'Chain' made from her solidified blood that goes after the enemy or target of the caster and sinks and/or clamps around them or it with its spikes/barbs and absorbs their blood.

Her target was obvious, she aimed for the arm that held her spear. Once "Bloodline" clamped around Kushiel's arm and the spear, she started pulling. While "Bloodline" itself causes little to-no-damage, however, when used in this manor, it's another story. With this, she can not only replenish her blood supply but also get her spear back. If he doesn't let the spear go? Well, removing his arm would be a nice bonus. With a chilling smile, Blair continued pulling.

Wrath grunted slightly in surprise when he found himself unable to move and growled in annoyance as Gorgon cupped his chin in her hand. Just wait until I can move again, then I'll show you why I'm not made of stone, you pompous pain in the-Ah! He found himself able to move again just as Gorgon started flipping away and Wrath took the opportunity to take a horizontal slice at her anyways, missing by mere centimeters.

As she landed and her snakes joined her, Wrath resumed his ready stance again and avoided meeting the demoness's gaze. Alright, so don't meet her gaze and you should be fine. Sure, Wrath, it's totally going to be that simple. He shook his head at his internal monologue and moved forwards again, this time opting for a less direct attack and sliding towards the trio and changing to his Magna form to unleash a devastatingly powerful horizontal slash aimed to harm all three while avoiding Gorgon's gaze. Regardless of that attack's result, he quickly backflipped back and avoided meeting Gorgon's gaze again.

The fire raining down on the ground below receded shortly after Fenn and the Allegiance had disappeared into an adjacent building, duking it out with each other within. That left Lily alone with the so-called Champion, and the small horde of lesser angels. They were numerous, and would no doubt want to get rid of her as quickly as possible. Lily, of course, had no intentions of letting them do so.

She made no move as they rose all around her, essentially forming a near impenetrable sphere of angelic forces around her. She met the eyes of any she could, while slowly revolving around herself. Hardly anyone did not sport some injuries from her earlier barrage, be it small scorch marks on their armour, or severe burns on their body. A few, she saw when she glanced downwards, lay still on the ground. No more than a handful, but the fact that a simple barrage had killed some of them did not speak well for them.

That was when the first one came for her, darting in quickly to swing at her before retreating back to its position. Another one followed, then another, and another. They came from all sides, faster than they should have. Lily weaved left and right, up and down, dodging as many as she could. Pain pierced her mind as skin split from where the angels managed to hit home, but it never stopped her from dodging out of the way of the next to come, the blade rushing millimetres past her face.

Yet she never tried to retaliate. Back and forth her eyes flew, searching for the next attacker even as she went above the current attack. She was searching, looking... waiting.

Hardly a dozen seconds had passed before the champion made its move. She looked up, meeting its eyes.

And then she grinned.

The scar over her right eye, as well as the eye itself, started glowing, easily overpowering the inherent glow of her elemental form. Her form roiled like the inside of a sun, the flames of her body becoming restless and volatile. Her form seemed to swell, and then exploded.

An echoing boom rocked the surrounding area, shattering windows and charring everything in the vicinity. Lesser angels were obliterated, cooked inside their armour or turned to ash from the heat of her combustion. The champion itself, powerful though it may be, found itself thrown away like a rag doll from the shockwave that followed, it having knocked away cars like toys.

And from its centre, once the fire had dissipated, stepped out a beast. Standing on two legs, and well over two metres tall, with digitigrade legs ending in clawed feet. A tail, longer than It was tall, extended from behind it, half a thick as her waist at its base and tapering to a rounded point. From the head sprouted twin pairs of horns, extending backwards nearly a foot in length each. Scale covered the majority of its body, and claws tipped each finger.

Lily stepped forward, spreading her massive, black wings, and Roared.

The Champion knelt some distance away, its front charred from where Lily’s combustion had hit it, and the rest scratched from the impact on the ground. It pushed itself up to full height, then raised its shield, pointing its sword forward, as if issuing a challenge. It was one Lily was more than happy to accept. Mist coalesced in her hand, a large warhammer falling heavily into her grip. She crouched, muscles tense and rippling underneath her taut, scaly skin.

She attacked first, propelling her forward with a powerful flap of her wings, hammer crashing down against the Champion's shield. He pushed her away and followed up with a thrust. Dodging to his left, she swung again and hit home. The sound of metal against metal rang out as the hammer met his shoulder guard, sending him staggering, armour cracked. Her next blow was pushed aside, the shield slamming into her and sending her reeling.

A deep growl emanated from her throat, a challenge as much as a threat and a warning of what was to come.

"You are strong," the Champion said, "But not strong enough. Even in your current demonic form, you will die here today."

Lily looked, if anything, disappointed. "I had expected something... more. Not an empty threat or assessment." Her tail twitched, slamming into the ground with enough force to dent the asphalt. "And you think this is the extent of my powers? Oh, young one, you are sadly mistaken—" her hammer changed, becoming a large axe instead "—this isn't even half of it!"

She charged again, jumping over the attempted retaliation, landing behind him and quickly struck him in the back, cracking more of the armour. The Angel relied mostly on its armour and shield to protect itself, so if it lost either it was at a huge disadvantage. So her first task was to get rid of it. To weaken it.

The angel turned, but Lily was already gone, off to the side and attempted a strike at its side. The angel managed to turn in time to block it with its shield, but the draconic form of Lily was gone, replaced instead by the, far smaller, feline form. "Let me show you how a demon fights."

The next minute was a blur of thrusts, slashes, and bludgeoning blows. Not one attack was repeated, each strike coming from a different angle, a different weapon. She struck his pauldron with an axe, received a blow bludgeoning strike from his shield, sending her back. Distance meant nothing. She leapt on him again, taking and receiving hits alike, dodging what she could, much like the champion himself. A blow to his helm in trade for a cut in her abdomen. A thrust to his chest, drawing blood, in trade for her tail as she quickly jumped away.

Lily sprung forward, and the Champion grabbed grabbed her sword as she attempted to thrust it at his weakened plate, wrenching it from her hands and throwing it aside. Seconds later she found herself flying into the wall of a nearby building, denting it even as she fell to the ground. It wasn't the first injury she'd had. Cuts dotted her entire body, her tail had been sheared off, and she was certain at least two ribs were broken. She stood up shakily, glaring at her adversary.

"Your time is over," he said, stepping closer. "Not even your True Form could save you." He raised his sword, ready to strike her down where she stood. "Now you die." The sword fell.

A shield met it.

Before him, Lily grew, sprouting wings and tail once more, horns erupted from her head and her limbs thickened with muscle. "How many times must I tell you—" her free hand shot up, grasping the cracked helmet, the titanic pressure of her grip shattering it in moments. Her tail then whipped around her, slamming the angel in the side and sending him skidding along the ground. "You aren't worthy of that honour."

A hammer, this one larger than any before, materialised in her hands. She stepped over to him, swinging, and shattered the already cracked shield in his hands. She struck a second time aiming for his chest. He sidestepped and struck at her, only for a shield to block it.

Again, the champion struck, but instead of meeting flesh or scale, or even a shield, his arm was stopped by Lily, grabbing him around the wrist. Using his one free hand, the Champion threw a punch at her hand, but was stopped, Lily grabbing his wrist mid-swing.

She pushed her face into his, snarling. “It’s over. Die."

With enough force to punch through metal, Lily drove her horned skull into the Champions, stunning him and sending him stumbling as she released him. The hammer found its way to her hands once more, and with a mighty heave she sent it crashing into the chest of the Champion, punching through his armour and—finally—meeting flesh.

She struck again, and again, and again. In the end, there didn't seem to be a part of the Champion's chestplate which was whole, punctures from where her hammer has shattered it—and crushed his internals underneath—covering it. She growled, and spat, a glob of blood and ichor mixing with the angel's own.

Turning around, she looked over at Fenn, still watching her from the building where he and the Allegiance had done battle. She raised a hand at him, a greeting as much as an assurance that their task was done, and started walking away.

Behind her lay the Angelic Champion.

@Lmpkio



Kosara was content with the intitial damage she dealt to Gideon via her dash and slashes right away after transforming, but that was not going to be enough to deal with him just yet. They had to either force him into retreat, leaving the Gorgon alone so they can take her down, or by some miracle take her down thus forcing him to retreat. Best scenario of course was taking both of them, but Kosara doubted it would happen. An instinct within her whispered it was not going to be so simple.

Noticing the opponent was buffing his gauntlets, Kosara herself activated her Blade armor as her bladed hair swirled around her torso and arms, forming a sharp armor to both reduce damage and even harm the attack in case of hand to hand combat.

As he was sweeping at her from the side, Kosara smiled widely under her armor as her body turned. Her arms now covered by the bladed armor were quite more protected than her simply gauntlet earlier, plus they also had the sharp edges of the blade to help. She roared, sharp claws of her legs taking firm hold of the ground as she returned to the swipe with a full strength punch. He wanted to throw her around again? Well it was time to see who was going to be simply thrown to the side this time.

At the same time she also kept attention on her remaining demonic power. She wanted to have just enough left to activate her ultimate move later at a crucial time.

Kushiel wastes no time as he tries charging at Blair with all of his available speed, only to be bombarded with her “Bloody Sunday” technique. The Archangel stops as prepares for the shower by crosses his arms together for protection. As the fragment came pouring down on him, his facial regions will be protected by his arms and spears as he also dodges most of the incoming fragments. He dodges as much as he can, the blood already beginning to issue a smokescreen effect on the battlefield around him, limiting his sense of vision for the moment. As he tries to get his sight back, he suddenly hears a whip-like sound as Blair issues her “Bloodline” technique, clamping down his the archangel’s arm that holds the Spear of Zalmonah. With a grunt, he tries to get the chain off him, hacking at it with his Spear of Longinus.

Even though the chain didn’t hurt much, despite the barbels, he can feel his blood being slowly drained out of his body. Was the demon general trying to regain energy through his own blood? He was almost certain of this. Not trying to waste anymore time and blood, he issues a powerful whack with his spear and breaks the chain off effortlessly. With that, he follows up by issuing an AT-Blast, spewing the blood-vapor towards Blair’s location, perhaps blinding her for another quick second. He then has no choice but to throw the rival’s spear, even if it meant losing the opportunity to use it to its maximum capability. With a powerful throw, Kushiel throws Zalmonah at the Mundas General, which was supposed to aim for her throat, only for it to hit her right shoulder. Whether or not it would hit, the Archangel comes crashing towards Blair and setting themselves on the ground. He would begin to issue several punches charged with AT-Energy as he attempts to punch the living crap out of Blair.

---

As she continues to yank on the blood chain, Blair remains alert as she focuses her gaze on Kushiel, to observe his every move. Despite seeing his attempts to remove the chain with his spear fail, Blair’s cold expression didn’t waver an inch. It was clear he was only using the most minimal of force in his efforts to break it. Inwardly, she wondered if she should feel insulted that the archangel thought so little of her “chain” or thankful considering that every moment he fails to remove it, the more blood she manages to recoup from him.

Though, it didn’t take him long to up the ante and decide to put more power into his swing, finally breaking the chain. Though it wasn’t attached long, it didn’t matter, because the amount of blood she received was more than enough to see her through the rest of the fight. He then followed this up by firing off an AT-Blast, causing the blood vapor to spew back towards her location. She wasn’t sure whether this was supposed to be another time grab or whether this was completely coincidental or not, but she was more than happy to recoup her lost blood.

Taking the moment to take back in the blood, she finally noticed a spear zooming towards him. Blair could tell immediately that the spear Kushiel decided to throw was her spear, Zalmonah. Giving it back to me already? Smiling to herself, she could see that the spear was heading right toward her throat, however, Zalmonah changed its trajectory and went after her shoulder instead. Though, the hit never came. Why you might ask? Using her Haemokinetic Construction ability, she solidified her blood on her hands, making makeshift gloves, which she then used to grab the spear, halting its attack. Attacking someone with their own weapon...the nerve. However, despite stopping and recollecting her spear, Kushiel used that time delay to charge towards Blair in a mad dash, crashing into her and sending the both of them to the ground and her spear slipping out of her hands. With him on top, he then began hurling a flurry of blows at her. While he did pin her body down, he didn’t pin down down her arms. Thanks to this, she managed to block his nonstop blows. However, she wouldn’t be able to continue to this effort for much longer as his blows had quite the force behind them, despite having been blocking them.

She needed to counterattack and fast, but to do so, she would be taking a big risk as she would be opening herself up for some punishment the moment she drops her arms. Not having much time left, she quickly went through her options. It was then her eyes fell on her spear, luckily, when the Archangel crashed into her, she had her spear in hand and when she dropped it, it only rolled a bit away. Taking the chance, she let down her guard, taking on the onslaught of blows, she extended her arm and began reaching for Zalmonah. With spear in hand, she then repositioned her hand and then pierced the spear right through Kushiel’s chest.

---

Kushiel cringed to himself once he saw Blair block the attack on her own spear. He knew he should’ve just thrown it away. If he knew he wouldn’t have succeeded in hitting her, then no one would’ve had a chance to use it. Before he could do anything else however, he and Blair felt a shockwave coming from the battle of Lily, Fenn, and the Angelic Champion’s men. Regardless, he only took notice but didn’t falter in his fight as he was able to successfully ram into her with all of her might and pummel her to the ground. Thankfully, she wasn’t able to grip onto her spear as it rolled away from her. With all of his available strength and AT-Field strength, he began to batter for the general’s face with all the rage in his body. Of course, they would be met by some strong resistance as Blair blocks them with her arms. However, with the power that the archangel is inflicting, it wouldn’t be too long before those defenses will be penetrated.

But if there was one thing Kushiel could’ve done to make the attack more satisfying, was to simply lock her hands to the ground. And by not doing it, will cost him dearly. Being so concentrative on his opponent as she let her guard down for a second, he unleashed several blows onto her beautiful face. At the forces he was punching her, it’s only a miracle that the general had not received a concussion from those punches. But this false sense of victory wouldn’t last for long, for the next thing the Archangel knew…

He finds himself impaled by a spear.

With a pained grunt, his pupils contracting, and his mouth quivering, Kushiel looks down in horror to see himself impaled on the left side of his chest. He wasn’t sure if it hit his organs, be his lung or heart, but regardless it was bloody painful. He coughs up blood in Blair’s face as he grips Longinus tightly in his hand. She’ll pay for such treachery upon the archangel’s holy body. Without further ado, he traps the general’s free hand with his knee and with all of his might, he quickly impales his enemy with his own, right in her stomach. If he’ll die on this very battlefield, may he take his enemy down with him.

---

Seeing the angel contort in pain caused blair to break out a sadistic grin, especially after seeing him coughing up blood in her face. Even after he replied in kind by sticking his own spear in her, despite the obvious pain, Blair’s grin never wavered. While the blow to the stomach was quite the serious injury, it was even more so in Kushiel’s case, given he had Zalmonah stuck in his chest.

Zalmonah was known for gutting and tearing up the insides of it’s victims upon the removal of the spear from their bodies. It can actually be said that removing from the spear causes more damage to the victim than the actual act of piercing them with it. Regardless of whether he’s an angel, demon or human, removing it definitely wouldn’t tickle.

While there hasn’t been a clear winner in the fight between her and Kushiel, it was quite clear that there was a winner and loser in all of this, and Blair definitely wasn’t among the losers in this case. That was made all the more obvious when a big shock wave went off in the direction from the other battlefield. And that blast definitely wasn’t from some angel.

With her cruel smile growing wider, she spoke up in a mocking voice. “It looks like the angels over there are no more. You’re called the ‘Angel of Judgement’ but you sure made quite a few bad ones back there, huh? The standards for Archangels must be quite low.” Stopping for a moment, she resumed talking. “Regardless of the result of this battle, that champion of yours is done for.”

It was quite something really, everything seemed to go her way tonight. It all started with the random pair of demons, quite powerful ones at that, she decided to follow. Sure made her mission all the more easier. Even more so now that they got rid of all the trash along with her target. And all she had to do was play with this Archangel.

---

The barbs began to pierce through the archangel’s chest as he glares into the devilish, unblinking eyes of the Mundas general. Even stabbing his own spear into her body didn’t change the horrifying expression on her face. If anything, it made it even worse. Zalmonah was still sticking inside Kushiel, and fearing the barbs would produce more damage than it already will, he refuses to take it out at that moment. Still leaving his Longinus pinned to Blair, he groans as he gets off her and lands on his side in silent agony. Angelic blood was pouring from his wound, as well as still trickling from his mouth.

He then notices that the entire battlefield was already quiet. Too quiet. Was the battle there over? As Kushiel looks over to see who remained victorious in this battle, all he saw was complete carnage, as he sees corpses of the slain Angels across the battlefield, with Lily and Fenn calmly leaving the battlefield. As well as the corpses of the Ardor units, the archangel also saw the corpse of the Allegiance, cut and sliced all over its body. It was simply slaughtered like a wild animal.

But that wasn’t the worst part… The Angel Champion seemed to have also been brutally killed as well. Kushiel’s eyes began to water. He had failed in protecting Vigrid from this demonic slaughter. He promised an easy victory for the Angelic forces, only to have three demons slap them in the goddamn face. It may have not been his first defeat, but it was surely one of his worse. The demon invaders had completely massacred his entire army, lieutenants and all. He has failed Heaven gloriously.

It was then when Blair mocked him, calling him out on his poor judgement, the low standards of the archangels, and again the death of the Champion himself. Anger began to course through the archangel’s body, beating throughout his body. He wants to continue fighting… to kill this demon scum… to avenge the death of his troops, comrades, and all. He grips tightly on the spear lodged in his chest and begins to pull. As he pulls, he can hear the sound of his insides squealing with disgusting and gruesome noises of flesh being teared by the barbs of Zalmonah. He groans in agony as he makes one last ditch effort in quickly removing the spear right out of his body. As he does so, a flash of white pain courses through his senses as he exhales a pained grunt, throwing it a good distance away from he and the demon.

He slowly gets up, with the pain begging him to sit back down and rest. He covers the wounded gash on his left chest with his left hand and limps towards the downed general, flames burning through his eyes.

”The Champion may be defeated,” he announces ominously as he looms over her, ”But don’t think you’ll get out of here alive... Judgement declares your punishment… PUNISHMENT BY DEATH!”

He then grips Longinus as tight as he can and attempts to cut Blair into two parts by moving it up to her head, slowly and excruciatingly.

---

Well, isn’t this something… Blair looked on, clearly amused with the sight before her, as she herself was getting up. Were all Archangels this entertaining? Either way, Blair was definitely enjoying herself more than originally intended. Sure getting to fight an Archangel was surely something but she never would've thought she’d one act in such a way. It was rare for her, when you consider how she normally is.

“Is that so? Scarrrrrrrrrry. What ever will I do now…” she mocked as she pretended to be scared. Going off the expression on Kushiel’s face, it’s safe to assume that he didn’t particularly care for her comment. Punctuating that fact was his latest attempt to cut her down. But it clearly lacked the vigor of his previous attacks, that much was made clear by the way he moved, he was definitely in great pain.

Not like she was in perfect health herself, but enough to be able to block it and avoid a fatal blow. Given the fact that her target has been eliminated, regardless of how it was done, and the fact that she fought and severely wounded an Archangel, she can definitely consider this a success. Which means she was done here, now she just had to get out here. While she’d love to stay and execute an Archangel, she wasn’t interested in overtime work.

Pooling in the last bits of her strength, she readied Zalmonah and counterattacked with her Rag Doll technique. Striking him with her spear, she tosses him high into the air, sending his body flying towards the champion’s direction with all of her remaining strength. Taking advantage of the dirt/debris build up from her attack, she retreated.

---

As Kushiel tries to rip the demon up the middle with his spear, he had underestimated the wounds that Blair sustained. As he slowly uses all of the available strength he has, plus a faint adrenaline push, the Demon General would then unleash a counterattack on the archangel by attempting to gore him with Zalmonah. He did not want to get gored by that spear again, not after what he just experienced. While still holding Longinus with his left, he was just barely able to block the spear as it raced towards him. However, the impact was so great that it sent the archangel flying a good distance away, also freeing Blair from impalement.

As the archangel finally lands on the ground, he looks up with a groan to see the general retreating from the battlefield. Coward. Sure it may be a victory for her today, but that’s simply defeating him, not actually killing him, despite the wounds he suffers from. She’ll surely regret the day he didn’t kill the archangel of judgement. As Kushiel slowly gets up, shaking and bleeding, he then realizes that just a few feet away from him was the Champion himself… And he was still alive! Or barely anyways, his breathing seems to be very weak.

”Champion!” he cries out as he crawls towards him with all the remaining strength he has. As he finally reaches him, he kneels as he cradles the fallen warrior in his arms.

“I have fallen today, and failed my charge…” the Champion mutters weakly, “I… Accept this defeat…”

”No,” answers the archangel as tears began to form, ”No, don’t say that. You’ll be OK. C’mon wake up!”

“But it does not mean I do not regret it. This has only been a minor setback… As the vanguard I… I expected death, and it has come as expected.”

”B-But… it shouldn’t be like this…” Kushiel groans as he tries to hold back the sadness and grief, ”I failed Heaven… Hell’s advance is~”

“Commander Kushiel… Worry not… This will only mean the advance of Heaven’s armies will be slowed… But not stopped... Farewell”, and so it was that the Champion breathed his last, and like his fallen brethren, turned to particles of light.

The archangel can feel the last bits of light trickling from his fingers until they too disappeared into thin air. The Champion was gone. What remained are the salty tears that crept down from Kushiel’s eyes. Heaven no longer had a foothold here, but that was only for a time. The wall between the human realm and Paradiso were quite thin in Vigrid after all.

---

As the demon general goes in for the swipe, he sees that Kosara had upped her defenses, her armor already going into some form of Blade Armor. Quickly he tries to swipe at her, only for her to turn around and begin to dodge the attack. Even as Gideon hit her, even he noticed that his buff wasn't all that powerful when it came to hitting her. Looks like she too was really upping her game. He and Gorgon need to leave soon. As long as she can distract the enemy for just a little longer, the two can safely and quickly get out of the battlefield. But time was running out... he needs to do it soon or either they both die or the Gorgon dies.

As the general tries to go for another swipe, he was met by a powerful punch that felt like it matched his own strength, sending him flying back to a wall. With a grunt, he regains his footing as he prepares his blades. Forming two spears he quickly unleashes his Crucify move, attempting to trap and disable her for a quick second so he can regain his footing on the situation. Weather it will hit or not, Gideon quickly follows up by creating two axes that attempt an X-Slash on Kosara. He wasn't going to let her off the hook so easily...

"Agh!" Akoni fell to one knee as he peered into the deeper layers of the being that stood before them. He was not expecting to be completely successful in learning the creature's name, but he had at least expected to maintain his composure when he failed. Had his powers really waned that much? He internally cursed his lack of discipline, but then remembered that he was supposed to be retired. That he was still skilled at all was surprising enough.

The mage rose to his feet once more, listening to the words coming from Sevrin's lips, but spoken by something else. His attempts had not been completely in vain. They had assumed that whatever this thing was, it was a demon. Now he knew that that was not entirely the case. Which only served to make the entire situation all the more terrifying, though he fought to keep a straight face. "I do know exorcism," he answered Mary, "But have not had need of it for more than two decades. To say that I am out of practice would be an understatement. It involves a battle of mind and spirit, one that I know I would not succeed at this time."

He eyed the possessed-Sevrin with the look of a strategist, searching over their enemy for any sign of weakness, any opening. For the time being, he was relaxed. That meant one of two things. Either this creature was overconfident to the point of leaving itself open... Or it was already prepared to take them all on at once. Though after his illumination spell failed to light up the darkness, Akoni felt the latter to be the truth. Regardless, if they were to strike, now would be the most opportune time.

"Sevrin..." he sighed, maintaining eye contact with the meat suit, clearly speaking to the host rather than that parasite. "If we end up killing you, know that it's not without remorse. But as for you, corrupted one, no tears will be shed!" At that moment Akoni thrust his open and outstretched hand forward. In the same instant two gates formed themselves, one directly in front of the mage, and the second to the side of Sevrin. Akoni's goal was simple, but critical to not just their victory, but overall survival. He had to disarm and steal the Yamato.

Note: Remember that Style will go directly to your Styles. Your "Kills" scores will be assignable where you please. Add them to the spreadsheets.

---

Gorgon placed her hand one one of the snakes, and vaulted herself up into the air, evading the wide strike from Wrath. He managed to catch one of the snakes, the one she vaulted off of, but the other one was coming from below, getting low on the ground and pursuing Wrath. She kept the Nephilim in her sights as she landed a little after Wrath's backflip ended, sprinting towards him. With the way she was moving towards him, it looked like she fights with hand to hand, and with her acrobatic movements very quickly too, but at the same time her snake companions seemed to be backing her up. The one that was struck had finished reeling from taking a hit though it would not reach the fight for a few moments after it's twin did. The dagger was a danger too to any careless attack as she demonstrated before her ability to parry an attack.

---

"Oh I think I'm going to cry Akoni", he taunted. Akoni's plan was sound, at least, as far as he knew Sevrin. The man didn't have any weapons... But there was so much he didn't know about him now. As soon as Akoni went to grab the Yamato through the portal, he felt a stinging pain as Sevrin flipped out a knife from under his sleeves. In a single motion he dropped the Yamato, slashed Akoni's hand then kicked the Yamato back up, switching the hand he held the blade in.

"But I'm afraid it's almost closing time... I wasn't joking about the librarian, so with that... Farewell", he said, grabbing his hat and bowing as he put his knife away.

From behind Sevrin a blue glow began to emanate, getting brighter, and brighter, and as soon as it reached it's opus, it fired. Sevrin's image distorted and disappeared as he was no longer anywhere to be seen, likely getting away with his skill in subterfuge, but in his place... Was a beast of eldritch origins.

The people of the Council would know what these foul ancient beasts were, and for them to appear once more, was only ill omen.

Wrath growled slightly in annoyance but took note of Gorgon's preferred choice of close combat fighting. Switching to Comminus Form, he sheaths Rage Bringer and the claws on his gauntlets appear, the light of the sun reflecting off them as he took a ready stance. When her first attack came, Wrath side stepped to the right, avoiding the dagger but finding himself face to face with the snake, which he rolled forwards under it's strike. He'd determined early on that getting hit by one of those big boys would mean he had a very bad day. Spinning quickly, he knocks aside another dagger strike with his left hand and aims a slash towards Gorgon's shoulder, avoiding eye contact, before jumping back and once more being forced to evade the giant snake.

He knew the other snake would be arriving to join in the fray soon so Wrath used his Rapid Slashes on Gorgon, closing with her at incredible speeds and slashing five times in quick succession, each blow aimed somewhere different on her body. When he finished, he aimed a quick jab at her chest, a poor decision, as the second snake caught him from his left and sent him careening into a tree. The impact knocked the wind out of the nephilim, but he stood up, taking his stance again. He needed someone to take the snakes if he was going to have a chance.

Mary turned to Akoni as he fell to his knees in pain. She wondered what he had done. He had cast a spell obviously, two of them actually, though the light spell simple seemed to disappear behind Sevrin. Again the demon began rambling, revealing that Akoni had tried to search for its name. That did not bode well. And again, he mentioned the librarian. She was beginning to doubt that he was joking about that.

Akoni confirmed he did know exorcism spells, but attempting one would be a fruitless battle. She sighed. It seemed that there was exactly one way to win this battle. Retrieve the Yamato. For a second they all stood there in silence, waiting it out. Akoni stared intently at what used to be his friend, before speaking again. He expressed sorrow that he would have to kill a colleague, before launching an attack.

Mary was surprised, to say the least. She began dashing at the monster at full speed in an attempt to grab its attention. Akoni's plan surely wouldn't work without help. But before the old man could lay on hand on the katana, another blade met him. A knife slid out from behind Sevrin's hand, before he flipped the Yamato out of reach. Though he bid his farewell, Mary threw the Falling Leaf Blade at him in an attempt to halt his teleportation. But he had already flickered out, instead being replaced by an excellent blue beam. Mary managed to get out of the way with another quick dash, but she was sure her blade was no more.

The blinding light reveal the form of the Librarian. It was a horrifying, almost eldritch beast that's maw glowed with an ethereal energy. Mary quickly rearmed herself with the Burial Suit, and began circling around it. "Spread out!" She shouted to her comrades. Hopefully it didn't have many tricks up its sleeve. It's massive size and atomic breath would be an issue enough.

Throughout the discourse between Akoni and Sevrin, Souta wore a vindictive sneer. Anyone could see that, like a malfunctioning water heater in a house’s basement or a metal-and-plastic tea kettle negligently placed in a microwave, he smoldered as he waited to explode. Yesterday’s bullets from Gideon, defended against as they were by his aura of flowing water, stung him with frustrating potency and frequency still. The idea of unleashing what rage he could muster with his versatile Walking Armory style against a demon infatuated him completely. Lest he bungle a dangerous situation, however, he restrained his aching weapon hand while the geezer conversed. While the seconds seemed like minutes to Souta’s excited heart, the time for words ended quickly when Akoni made the first move. Souta watched intently. As smart as the mage’s move should have been, Sevrin countered it, like a snake lashing out lightning-quick against a would-be threat. This did not dissuade the smith, however, and he swung his Arclight-wreathed warhammer into the ground, ignoring Mary’s attack rush. Ghostly skeletons manifested around Sevrin, ready to grab and tear from two different angles, but the demon outdid the specters themselves with a vanishing act so abrupt that Souta blinked in surprise, followed shortly by his ethereal servants blinking out of existence.

Yet his disappearance did not allow for the full return of darkness; behind him escalated a violent, vortex-shaped light, and a threatening hum filled the corridor. The next instant it fired, a frothing stream of water made energy—no, acid made energy, for it bubbled and churned like a noxious, caustic substance anathematic to the stuff of life. As much as he wanted to fight, Souta found himself beset by screaming instincts, and he threw himself to the ground. The arcane blast soared overhead, safely passing him by, but still a real and present danger for the others. Meanwhile, the thrown blade of Mary’s flew into the creature’s maw and was lost in the evil light within. Souta stood to his feet as the weapon’s owner called for the group to spread out. ”Where? This is a hallway. There’s just forward and backward, and I know where I’m goin’.” There could be no conception of fighting a monstrous abomination with unknown powers in a tight space. As the abyssal creature began sucking in for another blast, Souta turned tail and sprinted for his life back the way he came, and hoped that the others would do the same.

Curiouser and curiouser. So long…something new to learn? No reason for reluctance. What have we here?

The otherworldly being began to move forward. Its gelatinous outer shell disgorged pitons of organic material to attach to the walls, ceiling, and floor in order to keep it steadily advancing. Its maw opened wide, aglow with a dangerous and unnerving radiance gyrating like a whirlpool. Anything nearby flew in as if sucked by a vacuum to disintegrate into nothingness inside creature’s eldritch core. It advanced, a behemoth scouring plug, a dangerously quick guarantee to annihilate anything that did not hastily escape.

Akoni flinched in pain as his hand was sliced open. The knife had to strike the tips of his fingers, as that was the only portion not covered in the armor provided by Lammasu, but that hurt plenty, what with all the receptors all around the fingertips. He quickly pulled back his arm, closing off the gate in the process. Sevrin didn't bother waiting around for a fight to truly begin, instead flickering away. How could he transport himself through space without a gate? That was a question for another time, for another threat made itself known in the form of the Librarian.

The creature appeared to be ancient, monstrous, and of eldritch origin. Had it not charged up some manner of breath weapon to unleash on the small group in this tight corridor, Akoni would have no doubt been fascinated by the creature. It unleashed its attack, destroying one of Mary's weapons in the process. The mage took it upon himself to defend the group, and hopefully cause some significant damage to the Librarian all at once.

"'ll work defense!" he called out to the others, summoning a pair of gates to intercept the beam, utilizing his River Current technique in hopes of firing its attack right back at it. "I recommend pulling back to the dome, where we can maneuver!" Soon as he was able, Akoni would charge backward, but keep his wits about him, ready to defend his peers from the eldritch blasts with his River Current.

@Lmpkio@Zarkun@Sho Minazuki



Kosara smiled under her heavily armored and solid helmet as she felt her punch connect as the other half demon was thrown backwards as if hit by something massive.’ Huh…’ She thought, her punch was somewhat stronger than she remembered, was the influence of the firebrand? Could be and there was also the fact she hadn’t used her demon form in a good while so it could have gotten stronger in the meantime.” Heheehe, so how are things, Unchained?” Kosara asked as she took sword stance again when the demon general was starting to get on his footing again.

She knew her time was quickly ticking away with her demonic energy. She didn’t have too much long to maintain this form. She needed to force the demon into retreat right away or her using this would have been for naught.

As the Crucify move was about to hit, Kosara’s Lightning dash was pulled out again, speeding towards the demon general, but in her path were the two axes. A momentary calculation ran through her mind. She had he blade armor on. It was going to protect from the majority of the damage from the axes and she wasn’t going to give them a lot of time to properly hit with her speed. There were going to be some decent cuts, but most likely nothing too serious and it would stabilize due her regeneration by the time her transformation goes out in about the next 20 or so seconds of transformation. That was it! There was no time to spare.

With a roar, Kosara didn’t’ even slow her charge at the general, allowing the axes to impact iwht her bladed armor and still damage her. She even put her sword to one side to minimize the damage in her main arm as she was charging towards the full body tackle. With her bladed armor if it connected it was going to cause some damage. If it didn’t, she still had her sword to swing from way up close.

The Mundas General frowned slightly to see that the powered-up Kosara had dodged the first Crucify attack he unleashed. Alas however, that was to be expected. However, that wouldn't be said towards the axes that followed up after that move at a blinding speed. One would attempt hit the half-demon's right shoulder, while the other hit her left side. Thanks to her armor, she would be spared from a rather agonizing injury, with the right axe being blocked by her blade, but the left being able to slice through a good deal on her side. If only if she didn't happen to wear the armor would the effect be even greater than now.

Gideon had to end this quickly, for he's simply wasting time. He jumps up into the air and towards Kosara, looking as if he is trying to attempting slashing her with his gauntlet. However, at the very last second, he pulls an air dodge to the left. Just before he did so, he actually put away his gauntlets, and then switched to wielding Lucifer's Wings. Pointing the two modified Desert Eagles, he pulls the trigger as he issues his Four-Shot move, with one of those bullets aiming for her head. Regardless of what effect it will do he simply lands on the ground with a thump. The general looks back at the Gorgon to see how she is doing, though she seems to be doing quite well.

They need to retreat very soon...

Midori's eyes widend. Abyssal! She read about these creatures. This wasn't gonna be a pleaseant fight in the least. Midori dashed out of the way with her mouth still full of hellfire. It was gonna be hard to move like this so she had to use it against this creature. Some spit has escaped her mouth and fell on the ground immediatly burning through the floor. Despites the note of not moving much she still followed Mary her order and spread out like she was ordered too.

Akoni reccomended for them to fight in the dome where they had much more space so they could maneuver better and faster. It was a nice idea although she didn't mind close quarters. It was ideal for her close range fire to hit the beast. Before they would head off she atleast wanted to do some damage. She made sure no one was close to the creature or close to her and fired away. She balded up her fists and put all her focus on aiming the fire at one spot. For about 5 seconds hellish fire was unleashed onto the creature. Midori stepped back in anticipation as her mouth turned back to normal again. She was ready to move anytime Akoni would.

Mary felt fairly stupid as Souta reminded them that they were in a hallway. The bookcase her back was currently pressed against was the farthest point left in the room. That wouldn't allow for much maneuverability. Souta began running to the dome, while the abomination began sucking in. It's horrible gaping maw revealed a pulsating vortex of blue. Books started flying off the shelf, being sucked into the Monster's form. Mary too, felt as if she was being pulled by it. She began running towards the exit, her half-demon speed aiding her sprint.

Akoni and Midori decided to stay with the being a little while. Akoni stayed behind to work defense. It seemed the slimy, undulating monster was trying to charge up another beam, and so he set up a gate to redirect the beam. Midori, seemingly attached to the old man, spewed fire at the monster. Mary was slightly confused at this unabashed show of the child's demonic nature. She simply assumed that the child was, well, a child, and didn't care much about appearances or decency.

As Mary sprinted backwards, past the two who were staying back to protect her, she fired some shots at the creature, aimed so they would hit not the mouth, but it's flesh, if it could be called that. She needed to judge what material it was. It seemed to have some form of chitinous spikes, as well as ectoplasmic appendages. Hopefully neither would be too sturdy, but she had a feeling that this fight would be hard-fought even if they were.

Akoni’s quick thinking and use of gates effectively nullified the effect of the first energy blast, preventing the others from being harmed. The returned arcane blast did not, however, appear to have any sort of effect on the creature after is disappeared into the churning vortex that was its maw. Rather than a bullet being deflected back into the gunman, the River Current seemingly had the effect of splashing water into a pond. The abyssal monstrosity certainly didn’t cease its advance, instead continuing to move forward at a threatening pace. When Midori unleashed a torrent of fire toward it, her unholy flames spiraled into its gullet, doing no apparent damage.

Even as Mary fired off a few parting shots while she made her escape from the cramped corridor, the bullets strayed from their intended paths to vanish forever inside the abhorrent blue light. In a confined space, the literally and figuratively breathtaking force of the monster’s vacuum gave it complete protection. Lest they be sucked in and devoured, Akoni and Midori were forced to flee in the footsteps of Souta and Mary, back into the large domed room from which they came. Obligingly the creature followed, emerging from the hallway like a viper from its pit, and the terrible suction ceased.

Souta, having lain in wait for a few seconds now for an opportunity like this, did not waste it. He popped up from behind an overturned table and let loose a shot with Maelstrom. The beast was not, however, as sluggish as it looked. It writhed to face the incoming fireshard and sucked it up. In reply, its outer surface bubbled, and oily tentacles grew from its back to latch onto the wall and ceiling. Scuttling like a huge centipede, the abyssal maneuvered itself until it hung from the ceiling. Though now its body was unprotected by its head, it did not hesitate to attack again. From its maw it disgorged a cascade of fire, identical in appearance to the hellfire of Midori but blue in color, and it turned this way and that to blanket the room in an azure blaze.

Growling in frustration, Souta abandoned his cover as the fire swept over it. His gun disappeared, and from a swirling font of inexplicable water two enormous hooks appeared. When he whirled one about his head like a lasso before throwing it, the hook extended on a chain connected to his wrist, and its point latched into the side of the abyssal above him. Just before the sorcerous fire reached him, the smith sailed upward to hang, suspended, from the creature’s torso. ”Didn’t really think this through!” he yelled. Though safe for the time being, he knew nothing about what the creature could do. The only thing, he expected, that kept it from growing a leg to skewer him with was that it didn’t know he was attached yet.

No, of course it wouldn't be that easy. Of course the Abyssal would just eat its own energy right back. Of course. At the very least he had successfully protected his team, for the time being. With that out of the way, he turned tail and ran the fastest way he could: jetting forward through the use of Surge. Once back out into the main dome of the library, Akoni was confident the tide would turn in their favor. He was still confident that he was correct, but knew that it wasn't going to be that simple, especially once he witnessed what else this creature could do. Not only was it enormous, not only did its mouth act as a vacuum to charge some sort of eldritch beam, but it was highly mobile, dodging other attacks with relative ease, and unleashing its own counter in the form of widespread fire.

"Aw crap!" The elderly mage had hoped it wouldn't be able to use something widespread like this. His gates could only defend against smaller strikes, like the beam, but not something as widespread as this! Much as it pained him, the crickets were on their own against the blue fire while Akoni defended himself, utilizing River Current once more. This time the entry gate materialized directly between himself and the fire, while the exit gate opened behind him. He was spared the flame, but not the heat. Convection being the bitch that it is, Akoni's skin reddened with slight burns and his clothing darkened, threatening to ignite if left in the heat any longer.

It was time for a counter attack. Their foe had situated itself upon the ceiling while Souta foolishly clung to the beast, apparently with no actual plan as to what he would do afterward. He'll probably blame me if he gets himself killed. Fantastic. Generating a gate directly above himself with the exit directly below the abyssal, Akoni launched himself upward in a powerful uppercut, "No way you're more mobile than a teleporter! Eruption!" he cried out, intending to sock the beast square in the jaw with Lammasu, the gauntlet's knuckles covered in a long blade. Once the attack was complete, he intended to drop back through the gate and into his original starting position. It might not do as much damage as he would like, but perhaps it would ensure Souta remained unnoticed long enough for the kid to come up with an actual plan, or at least get away.

Gorgon was a nimble fighter, though she was sturdy as a demon should be, she still cannot take as much punishment as others. Realizing this she began to backstep and backflip in timed responses to Wrath's onslaught. The first burst caught her by surprise and managed to nip her, but close call after close call she would finally stand outside of his range as he finished his onslaught. A small cut began to appear on her body, it seems it was a closer call than she thought. Although while this was happening, the snake already in range was coiling around Wrath, surrounding him with it's body while the other accompanied it, going for a biting strike from above.

Gorgon looked around, her snakes coiled and surrounding Wrath in a pit should keep him busy for a small while, but as she looked around she realized they probably should not stay here for much longer. Kosara was ruthless in her fight against Gideon, even moreso now that her demonic form was waning as Gorgon would sense.

"I think we should be going Mr. General. You will have to lead the way though", she said. Immediately after Kosara's charge, Gorgon herself would step in, her dagger ready to parry whatever attack that Kosara would execute.