A roar was intimidating...for a moment, that is, and to those not yet numbed to roars by countless battles against monsters. One did not issue from whatever behemoth lay inside the stone shell suspended before the Charred Council's agents. Instead, it remained still, the one monolithic eye open and staring straight at the intruders into its domain. Around it, the entire Hanging Jungle seemed still as a spider's web, motionless and silent but no less deadly to the flies dangerously close to its sticky, silken strands. Uhelei did not want to speak, or even move, but though the gaze of the hanging behemoth filled him with dread, he took some comfort in it: that for the moment, at least, death was not coming for him. From the shelter of this solace he worked up a reply to the hellhound who questioned him. “It is...a legend to my people. We call it 'Ourakekem' – the Baleful World. You must understand: I did not guide us to it. It moves through the great tangle as it pleases...or at least, it is said to. Maybe it is better that we found it than some of the things out here. Our tales do not say that it is evil; merely that it is 'above us'. I will tell you what I know.”

“Our realm, the Undersky, is said to have not been made by the Creator himself, but by a mad renegade mistakenly gifted awesome power. After crafting an inverted world, she devoted herself to making living things, from beasts to us tribesmen to beings that rivaled her in might and insanity to keep her company. Ourakekem was one of these elite spirits, a consciousness of energy. Eventually a great war brewed among the renegade and her toys situated at a place called Wit's End, which the lord Panoptos calls 'the Seal', which is our destination. The battle resulted in the destruction of all involved. The spirits perished, the remnants of their power laying dormant inside protective cocoons, some of which, like Ourakekem, became living things in their own right.” Uhelei glanced back at the massive, everpresent eye. It held no trace of wariness, or wrath, but rather a cool intelligence, calmly evaluating the specks that stood before it.

Panoptos, having somehow restrained himself from interrupting the boring dialogue, now put forward his two cents. ”My superior intellect has arrived at a brilliant conclusion. What if this Oura-thing purposefully bars the way to Wit's End as a test? Wouldn't that be a nice surprise.” He floated forward slightly, ascending as he did so. Almost imperceptibly, the eye of Ourakekem slid upward. ”Yoo hoo! Don't know if you understand me, ole buddy, but we've got an urgent appointment with the Seal. Mind moving out of the way?”

Nothing happened. The seconds, rife with tension, stretched farther and farther. Then, quite abruptly, the whole tangled canopy was in motion. Ourakekem's enormous tentacles began to retract into its body at a healthy pace, but as its limbs went in, something came out. Emanating from the behemoth's eye was a mint-green wave, sweeping across everything in sight and bathing it in a soft glow. The tendrils released the platform on which the agents stood, but it, and the rest of the hunks of land, floated in the air as if weightless. As more and more of the colossal tentacles retreated into the mountain shell, it became apparent that the behemoth itself was now hovering in the air, kept buoyant by the same psychic force imparted to the stone. Very soon, the entire region was devoid of strands. Far away, the ordinary, steely cables of the Hanging Jungle remained, but in the vicinity of Ourakekem there existed only a belt of floating platforms.

Admittedly, Souta was having a terrifically hard time not freaking out. Navigating the Hanging Jungle had been hard and nerve-wracking enough when it was just vines; now, he -along with the rest of his group save Panoptos, the very individual who'd gotten them into this mess- was at the mercy of this hulking aberration. He could only watch as yellowish light began to will up within the monster's shell, which resolved itself into a sort of fog that streamed around its body. By honing his eyes, Souta could tell when the fog came close that it was not mist, but billions of bugs. So this is the monster's power. We are so dead. A bizarre sound filled the air—some kind of reverberating mumble that he could not decipher. He guessed it to be the cacophony of insect wings, but above the noise, Uhelei shouted, “It is speaking in my people's tongue! It is as you said, lord Panoptos! It wishes to test us. We must weather its swarms until it determines whether our intentions will...will suit its purposes. Prepare yourselves, agents of the Council!”

Immediately, the swarms began to whirl through the floating array of stone. It took on the shape of lances, beasts, and even armed humanoids, attacking the agents both as projectiles to be blocked or avoided, and as facsimile opponents. Souta had no idea what was going on, but he knew that he had to fight, and to fight with everything he had. The Trawlers appeared, and the smith went to work.

As Mary reached the other side of the swarm (many now regrouping and attempting to surround her now that she had stopped spinning) she viewed the gate closely. On queue, it shimmered with a light, before three demons launched out of it, poised to strike. Mary dashed backwards, right into the weapon of a lesser demon. Grunting at the gash now in her back, Mary sliced at the demons behind her to kill them, or at least make them retreat. As some dropped, they backed off, just a tad.

There was now a sort of "fight circle" around Mary and the three Fallen, but they would quickly begin closing in to try and overwhelm Mary surely. It would be better to just try and stay away from them for now. The Fallen were a much bigger threat. The main goal here was to get past them and destroy that gate before anything else could emerge from it. If she did that, even if she died fighting, lives would be saved. Prioritizing speed and range, the Burial Suit was stowed away in favor of her shiny new Jitte. It would fair much better than the scimitar in keeping the three away.

Dashing forward once again, Mary bounded towards the nearest demon, and used it as a springboard to launch herself both farther and faster then she would be able to normally. As she sailed through the tunnel, almost skimming the top of it, she aimed her Jitte to pierce the nearest Fallen, hopefully dragging it forward with her. When those things were out of the air, they'd be less of an issue. Still, she admittedly stood a fair chance of getting stabbed by the other two on the way down, but she hoped this move's spontaneity gave her enough time to dash away once she was on solid ground again.

While it was indeed nimble, it was incredibly stupid and it showed when it failed to notice her blood golem. With her golem holding the monster in check, using bloodline, she crafted a spear-like chain and sent it after the monster. With it's spear-like head sinking into it's body, the 'chain' wrapped around and dug into it, preventing escape as it began siphoning away its blood. The taste of it's blood was quite disgusting but given where she was, she had no room to be picky and needed blood to resupply her reserves.

When she managed to absorb a decent amount, she tightened her grip and pulled it towards her, hurling the monster in her direction. Quickly dropping the chain, she now had both of her hands on Zalmonah and, using her Ragdoll Technique, struck the beast with her speak and threw it up into the air, tearing up its insides in the process. Without missing a beat, she finished off her combination with her Batter Up! technique, smashing her spear into its head and sent it crashing into the side of the church.

With the annoyances out of the way, she could now finally proceed uninterrupted. Going through the cellar door, she had her blood golem block the entrance, making sure no one came in or left, without her knowing at least.

Fenn backed away from the platform’s edge as the the monster’s roots began to unwind, making the ground under them shudder. Their support was replaced by a pulse of green light, that left the previously entangled stones suspended in mid-air. There was little doubt that it was the Eye’s influence that was keeping them afloat.

Even casting aside these legends, the hound had suddenly little doubt about why the armor’s people would be in awe of such a creature.

His ears twitched in response to the yellowish mist that began to filter out of the Eye’s shell, the thrumming of countless tiny wings reaching him across the expanse, under their guide’s alarmed voice.

“A purpose for us, it says?” He grunted as he watched the mist approach. “This is the third being with aspirations of godhood that seeks my cooperation in as many days.”

“Third?” The Demoness at his side inquired, looking at him sideways. “Aside from the Council, who’s the third?”

“You, Imp.”

She snorted, cat ears flicking. “Aspiring to godhood? Come on, Pup. I’m not that arrogant.”

Fenn rolled his shoulders and dug his claws on the ground, the spaces between the scales of his chest swelling with an inner light a moment before a tongue of fire erupted from his maw. The flames crashed against the swarm, blackened motes fluttering down towards the expanse below wherever the flames fell, but the wave of insects barely faltered in its approach.

A sharp glint slipping through the flames caused Fenn to duck his head. He felt a sudden warmth and a ripping sensation on one of his ears, and his scorching breath sputtered as he let out an irate snarl. A second projectile aimed at his head was deflected by a violent swing of his scaled arm, the spear losing consistency from the force of the impact.

As the motes climbed out of the broken weapon and fluttered away from the predator, the manner in which the Eye wished to test them became clear. No sooner had the thought formed in his mind, groups of insects seemed to coalesce into larger shapes, golems fashioned from the Eye’s will staggering towards them while the yellow mist surrounded their platform, seemingly content with encircling them. Some of them took on a humanoid shape, their appearance somehow reminiscent of their guide.

At his side, Lily’s form became engulfed in flame—only for the flames to sputter and die, the look on the demoness’ face betraying surprise and annoyance. “For fuck sake. Old fashioned way, then.” Mist coalesced around her hands, glowing motes of white-ish energy quickly coming together to form a large, brutal war hammer. She swung the weapon around as if a toy, readying herself for the approaching golems.

She jumped forwards, sidestepping the first golem’s initial strike, using the momentum to deliver her own. The blow hit deep, striking its side hard enough to blow out part of its torso, scattering the insects making it up, and causing it to scramble to the side to regain its balance. She spun, facing the other only to have it strike her almost head-on, sending her tumbling back towards where they’d stood before.

A different creature had appeared before Fenn, the horns atop its head reminding him of the monsters that had greeted them when they had first stepped into this realm. The thing charged at him, but rather than force it into a contest of strength as he had done before, the hound rose and slammed a fist on the monster’s head. The insects forming the horned head were blasted away by the force, leaving the headless golem to stagger back. A second blow scattered the golem’s torso, and the monster lost its consistency.

He had little time to consider the beast’s frailness compared to the original before the clumps that remained shuddered and gained the shape of smaller creatures and projectiles. Fenn growled as he shifted his stance, presenting the harder parts of his hide and feeling the dull impact of the lances against his scales, before he belched forth another inferno. The smaller golems crumpled as the insects forming them melted under the heat.

Pillars of fire blossomed under other nearby monsters as Fenn saw them appear, killing the insects before they took proper shape, but for all that, the tide of enemies seemed unlikely to turn away regardless of their efforts.

“I tire of swatting pests away,” he growled.

“You’re not the only one!” Lily growled from further away, her axe gone in exchange for a round shield and a short, double edged sword. The golem she had initially attacked was no more, instead she was surrounded by two humanoid shapes the same size as her, and a set of flying weapons.

She twisted, blocking a hit from one small golem, severing the other’s arm from its body. A spear came flying towards her, shattering to dust as it met her shield. One moved to flank her, Lily jumping back to keep them in front of her, only for a her side to burn where the severed arm-now-dagger sliced her.

She roared, anger boiling; scales spreading across her body, tail thickening and wings sprouting from her back. She grabbed one puppet by its head, weapon’s forgotten, crashing it into the ground, the other pulverized from her tail splitting it in half like a massive bullwhip.

Even then, the insects that had not been crushed were already beginning to take on other shapes to assail them. There was not much fighting would accomplish unless they burned the entire swarm to a crisp. Or they stopped its source. Fenn’s thoughts turned to the dark sphere suspended in the distance, and found his lips parting around his fangs.

Fine, then. If he was to be tested, it would be on his terms.

The dog began to back away, eyes fixing on one of the planetoids their assailant had left hovering around them.

The imp must have sensed something was amiss, for her voice suddenly reached him. “What the fuck are you doing?!” Lily all but screamed from where she was now wrestling with a golem, her previous multiple enemies having merged back into one. She was bleeding from several small cuts.

“Exceeding expectations.”

With a running start, he leapt off their platform, roaring fire at the mist surrounding them. It parted at his intrusion, letting him soar in the air before he crashed heavily against another suspended rock.

Only slightly larger than him, the stone swayed, slowly rotating in a way that forced him to scramble upwards, sharp claws scoring the surface. His chains whipped out as more projectiles formed from within the swarm, snapping them before they could reach exposed parts of his body.

Locating another platform, the hound jumped off, leaving a score of projectiles to crash against the rock he had been hanging on to.

No sooner had he landed that more golems appeared, barring his path, but he only paid enough attention to them to bowl them out of his way. His focus was on reaching the Eye.

@Kafka Komedy

Mary's attack was a good one, however she failed to remember one thing. The Fallen were demons that could traverse through physical objects. Her attack did not land as it simply flew backwards as she rushed it, phasing away, however, this did allow her to achieve one of her objectives. She was now squarely in front of the gate. It was much smaller than the ones she had examined that were already broken after the events in this very city some years back, so it shouldn't be too much of a challenge to destroy it. Unlike the artificial ones, there was no Devil Arm powering it either, meaning she just had to destroy it the old-fashioned way. She had to make her decision quick, the demons were all behind her, and were poised to swarm her if she took too long.

@BCtheentity@rivaan

In the distance they heard what sounded like a crash. Not an unusual sound given the circumstances, but it was unusual in that it was the sound of a car, a thunderous and shattering crash that followed screeching tires. Kosara had known there were people around, likely however, this might be a lead on her target. Soon black smoke was rising to the sky in the distance, marking the crash site.

---

@Lmpkio@ProPro@EnterTheHero

The sound of clacking bones were compliment to their rushing footsteps. It seems that Kushiel and Silas were both staving off the skeletons, so Akoni was not able to get help to find the ones responsible for these skeletons. Although for now they seemed to be instantly drawn to Kushiel and Silas, their radiant light like a burning enemy to these creatures of the dark. Akoni had his opening to hunt down the necromancers. None were in immediate sight, but the sound of a bell seemed to be a clue. They were hiding... Likely they were of little challenge once he found them.

@I-Am-X

The cellar was as dark and bloody as she expected, a few lumbering monstrosities were around, but they seemed immature, weak even, and were cut down with little ceremony or effort. The atmosphere was quiet, only the sound of dripping blood, and slow and heavy thuds as the strange likely infected humans just wandered about aimlessly, although mostly harmlessly. They all did groan however, in delusion or agony, but one thing repeated, "Madama", this was a title given to especially powerful demons in Sheba's domain, such as the famous Madama Butterfly, who is signed to Bayonetta through an Umbran Witch contract. So the suspicions by the scout morphs were correct... There was indeed a demon here, and judging from what is likely it's handiwork, quite a powerful one too. For now she should move on through, the exit was through a few rooms from where she was, and lead into likely the kitchen, as cellars usually do.

Once Mary was firmly in front of the gate, admittedly wanting to face palm after forgetting fallen could phase through walls, she knew what she had to do. Reeling her arm back, and forcing it to vibrate, Mary shot the Entertainer forward, spiderweb cracks appearing throughout the demonic gate. Before it even shattered, Mary turned back to her assailants. The Fallen were still their, reparing another strike, as were the mounds of lesser demons encroaching. As much as she wanted to get rid of these things so the people of Fortuna could get back to their lives, she had a much more important objective.

Stretching out a tad bit, she decided her previous maneuver was a good idea, but could use some improvement. As soon as a weaker demon lunged at her, she dodged above it easily, stepping on it's head and pushing a bit forward. She replicated the motion again, now essentially walking on top of the crowd of demons, careful to not step on any outstretched claws and keeping an eye on the Fallen, who were surely eager to strike.

Though at any moment Souta absolutely felt as though the lambent swarm of yellow-green could sweep him away like a riptide and drown him in the depths, he counted his lucky stars that it appeared to be acting more deliberately. He'd already swung a Trawler as the first portion of the swarm descended to condense itself into the shape a biped armed with melee weapons, and his attack dispersed it before it fully formed. This meant, unfortunately, that the majority of the glowflies were knocked around rather than crushed to death. ”Annoying,” he remarked as the body began to reform and at least four more started to take shape. ”Can't get a preemptive strike in. Brute force only works when they're packed in real tight.” No sooner was the observation made than the first enemy construct attacked. It raised its axelike weapons, which pretty much amounted to extensions of its body, above its head as it ran forward. This time, Souta's flailing fishhook carved the construct's torso from its waist, but he realized that physical force alone would not behoove him. He sent out his second Trawler imbued with water in an overhead swing. It sliced straight down the reforming swarm's body, and when it hit the rocky ground, it exploded in a miniature geyser. Waterlogged, the glowflies lost formation and collapsed into a feebly struggling bug puddle. The sight might have been amusing if only Souta could spare the time to focus on it. ”Couple hundred down,” he murmured wryly. ”Couple trillion to go, maybe.”

A sideways sweep stalled the next wave of enemies, but rather than continue his defense, Souta was forced to shift his attention as several lance-shaped swarms shot his way. What they had in spades for speed they lacked in turning, though, so only the first one landed a hit—ripping away a small strip from his pants as he attempted to dodge. By then the humanoids were closing in again, so the smith resumed his momentum to spin around and rake both Trawlers into them. Yet again, he found himself distracted. This time, the shape of a bird swooped toward him, diving like a falcon, with the apparent intent to pierce through him. Water manifested from his hood into a makeshift barrier sprayed out in a trail behind his moving arm, countering the avian threat with just enough force to rob it of its lethality and soaking the bugs thereafter. With that problem dealt with, Souta resumed his fight with the humanoids, during which he discovered that a few more bestial foes were headed his way as well. The various missiles headed his way didn't stop, either. There would be no rest, it seemed, for the wicked.

Meanwhile, a certain intrepid hellhound engaged in a campaign of island hopping. Staying one just ahead of his many, many pursuers, he navigated the vast, three-dimensional array of floating stone slabs with a singular goal in mind. The eye of the sky titan Ourakekem soon shifted slightly, moving from the battle unfolding to the beast approaching. One could not imagine the wheels turning inside the head of this bizarre, alien being, but it certainly looked as though it watched with critical consideration. A brief, low whistle echoed through the air, and the swarm ceased its haphazard pursuit of Fenn to reconvene elsewhere while he was obliged to take a longer route according to what stepping stones were available. Very soon after, a great amount of them converged on the final platform, newly rotated by Ourakekem's psychic power to be face-up. They clumped together to form the shape of a vile monster, replete with eyes, tendrils, and spikes, to stand in its way. Only one vigorous leap behind this facsimile Levimalis lay the sky titan's eyes, a vast green moon silhouetting the hivemind nightmare that, for Fenn, might or might not be a worthy foe.

When it became apparent that they were not going to need to poke the giant eye barring their way, the Nephilim grew somewhat disheartened. Very rarely did one get to poke a being many times larger than oneself in it's eye and he felt the opportunity should be taken every time it was offered. However, he also knew the value of tact and not dying, both of which he'd used before. When the first bugs started forming up, however, Wrath once more wished he'd thought to ask for a spare ranged weapon before leaving. Even as he stood waiting for the first volley, he wondered if something with some spread for situations like this would be good, but found the train of thought to quickly be lost as he was forced to roll out of the way of a trio of lances before slashing through three beast facsimiles.

Standing all the way back up, he found the others similarly engaged and sighed. Maybe they'd find a good opponent while defending this Wit's End place, but he wasn't sure he should get his hopes up. After several minutes of dodging, clashing and essentially breaking, Wrath noted that Fenn had begun to move towards the eye in an attempt to end things quickly. And, despite knowing that such a thing could get them all killed, he found himself moving to support the hell hound in case the swarms tried to flank him. He followed the path of stones off to the right and kept an eye on the swarm behind himself and Fenn, spinning on occasion to put down constructs that got too close or sliding to avoid lances and other projectiles.

When the swarm behind the hell hound moved ahead of him, Wrath stopped where he was and focused on his pursuers for a moment, unleashing a Cleaving Slice that bought him just enough breathing room to spot Fenn's new opponent. And then he was set upon again, the swarm seeming to move to keep him from interfering. Bloody bugs. It'll be too soon if I never see more again.

@Sho Minazuki@EnterTheHero@Lmpkio

For the most part, Akoni ignored the undead much as they ignored him. He was a tiny bit thankful to be honest. His personal turtle defense was not perfect; he could still be attacked from above, below, or at a diagonal angle, so enough skeletons could still swarm him. Impeding his search for the progenitors of the unholy undead would be most bothersome. The shining light of his holy compatriots proved itself to be a potent distraction, which provided the old mage with vital information. The skeletons ignored him in favor of the divine light. If their creators had a measure of control, no doubt they would direct the small army to provide at least some resistance against himself. That lead to a single conclusion: Once they were created and given a directive, the skeletons remained autonomous. Most valuable information indeed.

Akoni focused on the search once more, reinvigorating his focus. His only clue to the whereabouts of the necromancers summoning these calcium constructs at current were the shadows at the far end of the hall when they had first entered, and now some ringing tone. A bell. Akoni smirked behind his barrier of gates then took off at a sprint in the direction of the bells. His gates dropped, his defense falling, but the wizard did not leave himself open for the creatures to attack. Akoni zoomed forward at speeds faster than most could even comprehend utilizing his Surge technique. Any skeletons in his path would no doubt be obliterated by the sheer force of momentum, while the sudden speed should, hopefully, catch his "hosts" off guard. Off guard enough to take out in only a second or two, Akoni theorized.

Fenn hesitated in his trek when he noticed the buzzing of the swarm receding. He paused for a moment to watch the cloud of insects retreat, mangled ear twitching atop his head, before he focused once more on the task at hand.

Whatever the Eye had in store for him did not impact his goal in the least. Rather, the absence of pursuers made it that much easier to reach his target.

Soon enough, the hound had managed to navigate the hanging stones to reach the platform closest to the Eye. He landed a run, loping towards the behemoth in the sky. He was only dimly aware of the obstacle in his way, barely a speck compared to the thing he sought. As the monster rose its pincers towards him, the hound merely veered to the side, unwilling to waste time on the nuisance.

He was almost past it when something latched onto his hind leg, the strength in the grip fixing him in place and making him topple forward. The dog let out a surprised bark at the impact, and his neck craned back, vicious eyes fixing on the abomination holding it back as if seeing it for the first time.

One of the numerous beard-like tendrils growing from under the beast’s mouth was wrapped around his ankle, seemingly having stretched and struck out as the demon tried to race past it. As other tentacles snaked out towards him, Fenn let loose a torrent of fire on the monster’s head. The thing staggered, beard shaking, and the dog felt a sudden pull on his leg before he was flung back, the tendril latched to his leg drawing him away from his target with startling strength.

Fenn stood up with a rumbling growl, once again facing the towering monster blocking his way. It seemed the Eye was not willing to let him reach it without playing with its puppets first.

The thing’s makeshift maw opened, flinging out a clump of writhing insects at the dog. Fenn moved aside, letting the projectile splatter on the ground. Before he could retaliate, spears emerged from the mass, launching themselves at the hound’s side, one of them finding the soft hide under his shoulder, the lance parting skin and crashing against his ribs. His enemy took the chance to surge at him.

With practiced ease, the hound ignored the pain and stood firm, raising one chained arm against the beast’s claws. One of its pincers futilely pressed against the chains, while the other drew forward to scratch at the hound behind it. Fenn drew back, metal sliding from the thing’s grasp as he tore his arm from the restraint. His other fist slammed on the side of the incoming pincer.

The lower half of the clawed appendage all but exploded under the force of the impact, sending small bugs flying, and Fenn stepped inside the opening, roaring another blaze towards the abomination’s center.

He was rewarded with a chittering buzz, and an impact like a battering ram striking the center of his chest.

The dog was sent flying back, eyes wide as his paws left the ground. Then his back struck the ground and he rolled with the impact, claws scoring the stone surface as he forced himself to a stop. A glance behind him revealed the yawning abyss that was this realm’s sky.

His eyes returned to the chittering monstrosity before him. Its tendrils were drawing back, unraveling from each other as it studied the stubborn prey it had found. Fenn quickly realized the impact he had felt had been all of the beast’s tentacles striking outwards at once. The thing’s face was blackened, the hound’s flames having killed scores of the tiny insects that comprised its body, but its surface rippled, the bugs swarming and shedding the dead skin, reconvening around the damaged areas to replace their lost companions. Even the claw he had crushed was steadily beginning to reform its damaged half.

Fenn grunted. It would have been simpler if the insects themselves caught aflame, but it seemed they were afforded some kind of protection, such that only the heat itself seemed to damage them. As it stood, confronting this beast would be little different from weathering the swarm itself, and he had already chosen to forego that task.

Then, he would need to abuse the fact that his pursuers had all converged into a single shape. The hound’s thoughts returned to the precipice, and he let out a gruff snort.

His chains unraveled like tendrils of his own and wrapped around the numerous smaller stones that had been left behind along with their floating platforms, wrenching them from the Eye’s green glow. As they did, Fenn’s forearms were engulfed in flame, and pillars of fire erupted from under the abomination. At the same time, his chains let loose their projectiles, fast enough to tear chunks from the thing’s hide, and immediately went in search for new ones.

Fenn set to walking along the edge of the platform, every step punctuated by a set of hurtling stones and another column of fire blossoming under his foe. Mayhaps the barrage itself would be enough to take the abomination apart, but he somehow doubted it. Rather, the sudden onslaught was meant to push the creature back, or force it to join him at the edge of their arena in an effort to halt him.

A flare of pain blossomed in Lily's chest from where the golem hit her. The feeling of something breaking underneath her fingers registered as she tore its arm from its body and threw it aside, knowing it would either reform into the golem or become another weapon. The scent of gore from the thousands of squashed bugs around her mixed with the smell of her own blood dripping from various small cuts across her body. Most injuries had been stopped short by the chromatic scales covering everything but her face.

She felt, more than saw, the approaching spear racing towards her in her peripheral. She struck out with her tail instinctively, the lance exploding in a thousand little bits from the impact. The golem struck her once again, but she was ready and turned with the strike, minimising damage while enabling her to flank it. She struck hard toppling it over. It started to stand up, only to be forced down again by a hammer of ludicrous size.

Piercing attacks didn't work, cuts did little but sever its limbs and create more enemies, and normal blunt weapons only managed to scatter the swarm of bugs. So there was only one solution left: Squash them. Lifting a hammer—its head larger than herself—once more, Lily brought the, frankly, ridiculous weapon down on the golem once again, relishing in the sound of carapaces cracking and insectile bodies squashing. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't elegant, nor was it any kind of example of disciplined warfare of fighting style. It was simple, pure, frustration made manifest in the form of a gigantic blunt weapon crushing a bug-golem until all that was left was bug-juice.

Her frustrations finally vented—against this thing, at least—Lily used the momentary lull of the battle to glance towards Fenn. He had engaged the... whatever it was that was before him. A creature larger even than himself, and far uglier, too. At least he hadn't managed to fuck up everything by striking the Eye itself. She dared not think what a creature so close to godhood as it would be capable of doing to them. Oh, she might pride herself on her own power, but she had was never so vain as to believe herself above everything else. She had limitations, and although she very rarely approached them, they were there.

If only I still had my Flames. But a full day had not yet passed since she had unleashed her every flame, and so she could not yet use it. She turned, facing the one golem that Fenn had left behind. Smaller than her own, as a result of his fiery strikes, it lumbered towards her. She was growing tired of this game; of enemies that kept walking after injuries that would leave others dying. So for the transgression of not dying as it should, this one would be torn asunder by her own claws. She roared and charged, slamming into it with all the force of several hundred kilos of pure muscle and murderous intent.

They might be hardy.

They might keep reassembling themselves.

But they would Die.

The cellar was dark and bloody as expected. Blair should probably be thankful that the place is littered with blood, like some sort of all-you-can-eat buffet but with all abominations walking about (weak and young as they are) and the fact that their blood tastes disgusting, she just wants to hurry it up and get this over with. Moving on, she continued advancing through the cellar slaying more and more of those things.

While it was indeed annoying, through their groaning, she was able to confirm the scout morph's suspicious. There was indeed a demon at work here and a powerful one. In their groaning the word 'Madama' slipped out and that was enough to confirm it. That specifically was a title given to especially powerful demon in Queen Sheba's domain. Sheba huh.... A lot of thoughts were running through her head but deemed them unimportant or a waste of time.

Picking up the pace, Blair began searching through the rooms, making sure to be thorough before eventually finding the way out of the cellar.

As it happened, that group of minions was just as simple to remove as the last. The Affinities did their job, taking on the small horde of wood and straw demons as intended, backed up by Iscah's attacks and some minimal input from the half-demon, and two of the E-types even survived the fight for their burning aura, then promptly allowed to return to Paradiso with the pride of a job well done - that is, if they felt such an emotion. Ultimately, once all was said and done, the trash had been cleared up, and both the Grace and the Glory felt they could now swiftly move onward with their quest, that of slaying every demonic foe in the city.

A task which, to some extent, was interrupted by the sound of a car crash. Something to head towards? Iacobos asked silently, which Iscah responded to with a nod. If I recall, humans tend to lack judgement when moving at tens of miles per hour. Not so much that they'd remain during a demon invasion of this scale, however. In other words, they both surmised, perhaps something of interest, something supernatural in nature; as the smoke rose from the somewhat-nearby wreckage, they both began to head toward it, Iacobos turning back to the present-unnamed half-demon only to suggest that 'If you intend to follow us, halfling, now would be the time,' before moving onward toward the crash site.

A fusillade of rocks proved very effective against even a gigantic condensed mass of the otherworldly insects. Each slung boulder tore a hole through the aberrant amalgam’s body, and from beneath, plumes of incinerating flame roasted the lowest part of the swarm to a fine crisp. This presented an immediate problem: without the support of its ‘legs’ to keep the rest of its form up, the rest of the bugs were forced to loosen their cohesion in order to fly for themselves. To onlookers, this manifested as both a slight swell in size and a definite, all-encompassing kind of stagger. By continuing his assault, the hellhound prevented the swarm from reconsolidating itself in order to attack, forcing it to instead continuously maintain its form. A few tendrils lashed out, and another compacted clump of bugs sailed from its mouth in an attempt to bulldoze Fenn, but he found himself remarkably unmolested as he skirted the platform’s perimeter, though the intensity of the situation did not die off. Indeed, as Souta, Lily, and Wrath could attest as their own foes beleaguered them, the battle was at its climax!

Or rather—anticlimax. A sound like a wave crashing upon a rocky shore filled the Hanging Jungle, and instantly every single swarm construct dissolved. Their constituents zipped in bright, flowing streams of yellowish-green back toward the behemoth called Ourakekem. Souta, completely out of breath, doubled over and heaved a sigh of relief. The groups guide, Uhelei, who’d been fighting alongside Souta due to comparable size and less of a risk for collateral damage, outright collapsed. Every inch of his armor had been gnawed, and more than a few severe dents further marred its surface, making him look oddly wraithlike. His heartlight pounded, and he did not seem inclined to translate for the eldritch observer; though he did not need to. To all, it was clear that the test was over.

Once the swarms were nothing more but pits of light resting in the cracks of Ourakekem’s body, it spoke again. This time, Uhelei shouted its words so that his allies could hear. “Your strength is not wanting. You are to be the instrument of this sky’s liberation. Come with me to Wit’s End, where we will find your seal, and my eternal foe.” While repeating this, the technoorganic tribesman’s tone grew incredulous. One could easily pick up on his shocked disbelief. “Surely not…?”

With all eyes on its massive form, Ourakekem began to descend. Like a miniature planet it floated downward, then forward slightly, so that it hovered directly beneath the suspended array of platforms on which the Agents resided. Seeing no other option, Souta nevertheless looked to Panoptos for direction, who nodded. ”Hey, might as well. Why slog on through more jungle and another couple stalactites when we could fly straight there? Plus, we all know there’d be some kind of fight or another when we got there, anyway. Better to have an ancient god-monster on our side, huh?” The watcher wasted no time in descending. With a helpless shrug, Souta affixed a Trawler hook to the side of his platform, and then jumped over the edge. His elongating weapon brought him safely to the cranium of Ourakekem waiting below, and before he reeled it in, Uhelei slid down the chain like a fire pole to join him.

The moment all were on board, the psychic behemoth began to move. It quickly picked up speed, leaving a trail of pale green energies behind as it accelerated. Barely had it gone a hundred meters before the chunks of rock held in the air began to rain down. A couple landed on Ourakekem to break, slid off, or get stuck there, but the stony shower wasn’t any serious hazard and the creature certainly didn’t seem bothered. Very soon, the Agents were traveling beneath the Hanging Jungle, and once free from the vast tangle, the feeling of isolation grew strong indeed. Like floating in a colorful void, or swimming in the open ocean, there was nothing but sky, sky, and more sky. Clouds of orange, yellow, red, and green hues could be spotted in clumps, some of them surrounding the inverted peaks of the largest stalactites above.

Before long, the silent behemoth started to ascend once more. When the ceiling came into view, however, its landscape appeared markedly different. Outcrops of rock extended and twisted in bizarre, impossible formations, and dark clouds could be seen often. The bridges seen before reappeared, but curved and corkscrewed—they would have been troublesome to navigate on foot, indeed. Yet, when Ourakekem drifted closer –almost perilously close to the ceiling, in fact- shadowy shapes could be seen walking on a few of the bridges. Their positioning completely defied gravity; some were completely upside down, yet somehow they moved, gecko-like, unbothered by the propriety of direction.

Ourakekem drew ever closer, and as it did, a yellow light could be seen among the obscuring clouds and pillars ahead. Souta ran forward to position himself just above the behemoth’s eye, so he too could see exactly what lay ahead. Around them, the various roads were converging, headed in as roundabout a way as possible for the radiant glow. A feeling of anticipation swelled up in the smith, just as strong as the burgeoning atmospheric pressure that began to press upon him. He watched, as his companions no doubt did, as Ourakekem passed through a wall of murky fog and the light shown forth. Before them was Wit’s End—the Undersky’s most legendary spot, and the resting place of the brilliantly golden Third Seal of the Apocalypse.

Wrath moved in a whirlwind, Rage Bringer downing, or more breaking apart, each construct that came towards him as fast as possible. However, he couldn't dodge, counter, or avoid everything and he bore a number of nicks and cuts where his armor didn't protect him and his armor a veritable array of dents and scuffs everywhere else. As it went on, the Nephilim began to wonder just what the test was when the swarms were gone and instead of the slight resistance of several thousand tiny insect body there was only air, causing him to stumble forwards and almost off the platform. "That was right cheap." Turning after using the tip of his sword to catch himself, he realizes the behemoth had moved underneath of the platforms and followed everyone else to it's head, rolling upon landing to cushion the fall.

The trip itself was strange, if oddly relaxing, not having to worry about getting jumped by more of those blasted spiders or any other unpleasant surprises. Though he did wonder what this age old enemy was. And as they approached Wit's End, the light it threw reminding him of heaven, he approached their guide. "Alright, let's hear it. Who is it our friend here is wanting us to fight?"

The demons were nicely and promptly dealt with so if nothing else, the half demon at least had to admit those two paradise… creatures were efficient in their work when they had a bunch of mob support. She stopped herself from thinking about them as mutts. If for nothing else than just to have a more friendly presence to herself. She still didn’t like the annoying one of them. The more sensible one was actually decent enough that if it wasn’t some heaven creature, she may have liked to go for drinks with it…

She thought for it for a few moments as she suddenly realized something. She reached for her earphones, to check if there was still music ringing in them and for her horror she confirmed her already known fact that it was silent! She had a beyond perfect hearing so she knew her mp3 player wasn’t working, but hey… she could have hoped, right?

She made an annoyed grunt as she lifted her gaze and looked in the direction of the car crashing sound.” Seriously?” She muttered to herself wondering who exactly was dumb enough to drive a car here right now.’ Well humanity do has some of the bravest and stupidest people out there. Won’t be surprising to have a few people running about the place even at this moment, doing dumb stuff.

“Oi... watch your tongue!” She snapped at the creatures.” What the hell do you mean Halfling!? Do you even know what a halfling is??” She asked and made a approximate gesture with her hand to show exactly how tall a Halfling would be.” Halflings are fiction creatures this tall. Do I look like some Halfling to you?” She asked as she was indeed following.

What the hound had initially dismissed as improbable proved to be true as the abomination barring his path began to crumble under the onslaught of stone and fire.

Fenn’s scowl worsened with every step, each punctuated by the fall and rise of another column of fire under the monster’s stomach. In such a situation, any one of his kind would have recognized the need to close the distance, to kill their opponent before it was no longer possible, but the beast had refused to abandon its place. The unrelenting barrage had wreaked havoc on the thing’s body, but it had seen fit to remain in place, the numerous insects that composed its body fighting a losing battle to repair the damaged areas. In only a few moments, the beast’s legs had lost so much consistency it could barely stand on its own power.

“Weak,” he growled, voice rising towards the titanic eye framing his foe. “Feeble! Is this all you saw fit to prepare to bar my path? Nothing but a waste of time.” Soon, the beast would be in no condition to block his passage, and he could express his dissatisfaction to the Eye directly.

Almost as soon as he completed that thought, the insects forming the beast’s body dispersed of their own volition. The Demon paused in his bombardment, eyeing the swarm warily as they began to retreat. Soon, the insects were joined by the ones that had remained behind, accosting the Council’s agents, and Fenn realized the meaning behind this behavior.

They had passed muster.

His intact ear twitched as the words of their guide confirmed his suspicion, and the dog let out an irritated breath.

This was not the conclusion he had hoped for.

Fenn balled a claw into a fist, knuckles crackling. Alas, he was not in this realm simply to indulge in his impulses. As much as he hated to admit it, if the Imp was to reach the Seal, this was the best outcome they could have wished for.

So, as the massive eye moved below their arena of hanging stones, Fenn merely dropped down onto the offered platform, the corner of his lip stretched down in a dissatisfied grimace.

As he sauntered towards the others, the Imp’s eyes fixed on him.

“Need I remind you, Fenn, who is in charge?” Lily asked, stepping over to the Hound and looked up at him with an unreadable expression on her face. It seemed the swarm had put her in a foul mood as well. “I did not ask you to deviate, yet you saw fit to attack without being ordered to do so.” She tilted her head sideways, as if contemplating something she did not quite understand. “How come?”

The dog grunted in comprehension. Was it possible that the Imp thought she had a tighter leash on him than she actually had?

“I heard no order, Imp. In their absence—”

“Exactly.”

Fenn narrowed his eyes irritatedly at the interruption.

Lily met his gaze, unperturbed. “We were faced with what amounts to a god in this realm. To simply attack a being such as that is not only folly, but borderline suicidal. I gave you no orders to attack the eye because doing so might make us the targets of its ire. I respect you, Fenn, but what you did shows a lack of foresight. That thing could have killed us had it so desired, and you attack it regardless?”

“Aye, Imp. And I would do so even now were it still barring our path.” The dog snorted, as though he found the thought funny. “You are naive to think our actions mattered even after we found our way to this Eye’s domain. Perhaps this would not be the case for you or the Watcher, but were this abomination interested in ending this group, or curbing my ploy, all that needed be done was to release the stones. Resistance costed me nothing. If it intended to see our strength, I intended to show it.” Fenn shrugged, the usual, ponderous roll of his shoulders. “If you wish for me to act differently, you shall have to tell me, Imp. I can only do as you want when I know what that is.”

For a while Lily said nothing, simply looking into one of his eyes as if searching for something. “Your logic is sound in hindsight. However, we could not have truly known those things to begin with.” He huffed irritably, making clear what he thought of that statement. Lily continued unperturbed. “I would request that you proceed with more caution the next time we meet something so obviously more powerful than either of us. At the very least confer with me beforehand.”

At this point the demoness smiled in that manner almost exclusive to females that told him he would come to regret this conversation. “But, let the past stay in the past. I'm weary from my own struggles and wish to rest for a moment.” Bending at her knees, Lily jumped high up into the air inkling herself so that she landed on the middle of Fenn’s back.

The dog shook reflexively, but the woman remained firmly latched to his backside, laughing at his efforts. When it became evident he would not dislodge her without threatening harm to her, Fenn craned his neck back. “Get off, fool.”

Lily did no such thing. Rather, she only settled in further meeting her mount’s gaze with a lopsided smirk. “You think I'm going to left your reckless behavior go unpunished?” The demoness chuckled heartily.. “No. Your punishment will be to serve as my mount for the time being. This is me telling you what I ‘want’, Fenn,” she said, steel entering her voice.

The hound growled. If anything, the rumbling seemed to relax Lily, as she settled further onto his fur with a contented sigh. “You act like a pup,” he complained.

Yet, he let out a long-suffering breath, calming himself before settling down himself atop the massive beast they were riding. He had not the patience to argue this particular point. They looked like big enough fools as it was. He’d simply need to find a way to repay the demoness for his bruised dignity later.

“Did you know that your fur is surprisingly soft and comfortable?”

Fenn’s tail reflexively slammed the stone behind him.

His eyes turned to their guide in a nigh desperate search for something to distract him from his passenger. Out of all of them, it was the metal armor that was worse for the wear. It seemed that spending much longer in that fight could have been the end of it. Still, his condition evoked little pity from the hound.

“Guide, there is something I wish to ask. You claimed the Eye to have an enemy. Do your legends speak of this?”

Lily crawled forward up onto Fenn’s head, looking down at their metallic guide from between the hound’s ears, once more in the form of an attractive human woman, as opposed to her draconic visage. “I would actually like to know that too. What is this enemy?”

The dog shook his head, nearly throwing her off, leaving the woman to glare daggers at the dog’s back while he pretended ignorance.

On course for the dazzling amber radiance of the Third Seal, the great being Ourakekem moved steadily forward. The transition through the wall of fog brought all eyes to the incandescent obelisk before them, but thoughts invariably drifted to the unknown enemy that the behemoth brought them here to face. Uhelei, his parts clattering and sputtering like an old, dusty computer, found himself besieged by questions from everyone but the human whom he'd fought alongside. With visible effort, the biomechanical tribesman picked himself up and labored to construct for his allies an answer.

“Our...noble host...uhm! Told us of an 'eternal enemy'. When I cast my mind back to the legends surrounding Ourakekem, and those like him, I can think of only one candidate. The thought sickens me...it fills me with dread: the idea that we are to oppose any kind of remnant of this realm's mad craftswoman.”

The entire rocky shell shook with a sudden and violent jerk that threw, at the very least, both Uhelei and Souta to the ground. Panoptos snickered, waiting for the guide to struggle to his feet and translate for Ourakekem, or at least to tell the agents the meaning of this sudden stop as he lay, crumpled, on the ground, but he did neither. After getting up, Souta, much closer to the front of the behemoth, saw that the gargantuan psychic had effectively parked himself against the sheer side of the floating plateau that lay beneath the Third Seal. Aside from some vegetation closer to the edges of this area, the rest appeared to be incredibly flat. In the blazing glow of the Seal, an expanse of ankle-deep water could be seen closer to the landmass's center. Above, roads in the sky looped and curled toward the goal, unreachable but serving as a rough indicator for the path by which to proceed. The Charred Council's agents did not waste any time disembarking. Behind them, Ourakekem's enormous eye loomed very close, pressed against the cliffside as a child might press himself against a window. A rumble reverberated through Wit's End, and the lambent swarms flowed out from the cracks in the great being's carapace once again. This time, they swirled around the agents, evidently with no intention to attack, but rather to accompany them forward. More alien grumbles sounded out from him, and this time Uhelei, having brought up the rear when getting off, deigned to translate. “I can go no further, but my host will join you and do what it can. My enemy's affinity for fire may render them useless, but your own may outweigh hers. Guard against the light of insanity.” With that, Uhelei grew silent, as the behemoth had done the same.

Naturally, Panoptos took the cue to do the opposite. ”Let is never be said the big rock eye wasn't helpful! Looks like we've got our work cut our for us. If whats-her-face is near the Seal, chances are she'd attack us anyway. Y'know, I bet the 'liberation' ol' Oura here promises is more metaphorical than anything else. Sure, the Undersky sucks, but the tribesmen don't seem oppressed or anything. Grudge, much? Eh, whatever. Let's kill the bitch and get this place over with before the demons catch up.” Expecting the others to follow along, he started to glide toward his destination.

Due to the flatness of the place, the Agents saw the black speck long before they drew close enough to see what it was. Standing completely isolated directly beneath the hanging, golden monument was a strange, vaguely humanoid figure. From afar she appeared to be dressed in some manner of priestess garb, but growing closer revealed her extravagant apparel to be part of her body—fleshy and repulsive. Great proximity also revealed that she was staring directly upward at the Seal, seemingly mesmerized. The trance broke when Panoptos, leading the group, drew too close.

With a deliberate slowness, as one waking from a dream, the creature's head drifted down until she was looking at the group. From her crown, there shone a golden glow exactly like that of the Seal. Her mouth opened and closed dumbly, as if she couldn't figure out how to speak. A hand came up, reaching out to grasp the intruders into her domain despite the distance that still separated them. At that moment, the swarms of Ourakekem surrounding the agents in cloudbanks surged forward, able to stand the sight of their master's enemy no longer. They formed into a handful of giant, pointed arrows, fast and sharp enough to dice this repugnant being up. In response, the tips of the fleshy branches sprouting from the mad one's neck and head flared to life, at first scarcely more than candles. As the swarms approached, the gaping holes in her upper body belched forth a mighty, roaring heatwave, hotter and far faster than any stream of flame could be. Its touch incinerated the outer layer and the front parts of the arrowheads, scattering the swarms. The bugs still remaining spread out through the air, giving the mad one a wide berth. Curious, the disgraced being watched, her tentacles shifting restlessly. Her attention soon returned to the Agents, however. This time, when her mouth fell open, a lilting, distorted voice rang out, but as nothing more than a wordless shriek. From nothing two whirling maelstroms of matter appeared next to her, growing larger until, a second later, they resolved into a pair of misshapen biomechanical monsters. The mad one trembled, her sudden fury made her tentacles writhe, while her hunting dogs ran forward.

@Kafka Komedy

The Fallen were generally being as they were, floating in circles around Mary before trying to make a strike. Their wings were what guarded them from damage, and gave them their abilities of flight. Unfortunately they were quite sturdy in the face of damage, any attack seemed to bounce right off them, albeit they do take some damage. Anything that didn't rely on the user's poise like a gun should have a better chance. Fallen were also fairly light, meaning once those wings were gone, dealing with them should be rather non-issue.

The demons were quickly thinning out as soon as the gate was destroyed, as more could not come to their aid. The final matter of this area was to close off the port's entrance, and commence a lockdown of the city. There were still two more gates however, but as soon as the Port area was closed off, troops from the Order should be able to have the freedom to move in for the same goal. Hopefully Kosara was doing her job in finding the gang leader, as that would make reestablishing order all the more easier.

@BCtheentity@rivaan

As the two argued, somewhere in the distance was the gang leader running off on foot now, Gideon hot on his trail. As they arrived to the crash they could see the supposed gang leader running into the underground mall, and Gideon was entering after him.

---

@ProPro@EnterTheHero

Akoni's charge was well placed, destroying and shattering a small legion of skeletons. Though as soon as he arrived to his destination, he spotted rotting corpses, standing, robed, but holding a bell... In each rotting wound they had, an eye popped out. Akoni was beheld in those eyes as the bodies themselves collapsed simultaneously as a monstrous flesh and bone mass emerged like it was just wearing it as clothing. The uncanny detail was that there was a clear, perfect face on it, closed, though clearly skin and flesh, was so smooth it seemed as if it was a porcelain doll, in contrast to the heaping unorganized mass it was attached to. Two arms that collapsed and repaired themselves would crawl their way towards Akoni, each time it raised it's arms, a skeleton would emerge from beneath where it had 'stepped'. It had almost no strategy of attack, other than a slow crawl and a pathetic arm swipe, it seemed to rely on it's minions, which it seemed to spawn at a decently fast rate.

@I-Am-X

Naturally as she emerged from the cellar, she would enter a kitchen. It was almost like she'd stepped into a horror game in this case, blood and dried guts strewn across the tables and walls, severed and bloody bits along the ground, big knives and rotting vegetables in piles on the tables, the rotting stench was palpable. Though what stood out immediately was the sound of chopping. There was nothing to see here in the small church kitchen, but as soon as she emerged in the courtyard in order to reach the main area, as the door in the kitchen was barred by a fleshy wall, she beheld a large figure, holding a gigantic butcher's knife, chipped and slightly rusted, but the large figure even to a demon like Blair, commanded a lot of raw strength on look and atmosphere alone.

It stopped it's routine and turned to Blair, and slowly walked towards her, a maddened stare in its eyes.