As the two of them proceeded through the jungle, they sensed a strong presence making their way towards them. As they presence got closer and closer, the two of them readied themselves for battle. When the being emerged from the brush and made itself known, it was an angel she encountered once before. The moment he uttered her old name, her eyes narrowed as she kept her eyes locked onto him. It's been awhile since someone uttered that name... Her eyes drifting to the scar on his face, a slight smile appeared on her face.

"The overconfident angel who once tried to remove me from the highlands once upon a time. It's been awhile, Zarrath. I do hope you've learned since then." She spoke with a monotone voice, without a single trace of arrogance or the slightest bit of worry in her voice. With the angle not being the kind of enemy she could avoid a battle with, Blair removed her ominous demonic spear from her back and walked forward.

Zalmonah, it's a spear Zarrath is all to familar with. It was the very weapon that scarred him in their previous clash all those years ago. A weapon that seems to grow stronger as time marches on, one not to be taken lightly. With both of them done sharing words, Blair had Enepsigos lock down the battle area and use her abilities to ensure no one interferes with the battle, effectively erasing their presences. Thanks to this, there was no worries of outside interference and prevent reinforcements, less trouble the better. With that problem out of the way, she can now attack without bringing garnering more attention.

Without wasting anymore time, Blair went on the attack and started with Bloody Sunday, creating a flurry of blood spikes to storm Zarrath, using the attack to charge in.

The instant Fenn ceased moving, Souta's heart skipped a beat. Every ounce of dread one might feel when stepping on a landmine, in the split second before it revealed itself to be death or defective, washed over him. Souta could feel the malice radiating off him in the form of smothering heat, enough to flambé a turkey. That pressure sparked a reaction in the smith, causing water to well from his hoodie and swirl around him. He stood still, his lips ajar but his teeth closed in a surly scowl, while the hellhound turned to face him. Does the underworld not have morose sarcasm? Surely Fenn wasn't taking him seriously. Of course, that meant he was just being an asshole, which Souta decided he took even more issue with.

Adrenaline began to flow, and what instincts Souta had honed for battle during his time with Gilgamesh started feeding him information. Fenn, moving slowly for the intimidation factor, would have to kick himself into gear in a hurry to avoid or block a shot to his face. While not as great fan of westerns, Souta fancied himself a pretty fast draw with Deluge. Fenn drew closer, and just like a schoolyard bully uttered his threat. Realistically, Souta did not enjoy his chances. But he felt sure that, rather like the watchers, he was 'protected' by whoever chose him as an agent, and moreover by Lily, so what he said was, ”F-fucking try it, kudaranai inu.” Water flowed down his right arm, amassing into a glowing aquamarine node in his palm.

However, the confrontation was not fated to continue. Under normal circumstances Souta would not have liked someone coming to his aid and defusing a coming fight, but given his prospective opponent he felt far grateful than stifled. The pressure dissipated and the dire moment passed, and with it his water retreated as well. Fenn attempted to turn on Lily, but the weakness of his comments and retorts showed how beaten he was. The demons could trade jibes all they wanted; Souta felt more and more sure with each passing second that an impromptu throwdown would have been a big mistake, even as he felt more confident in his guess about 'protection'. That said, the smith did commend himself for not happily flinging himself into a potential snare, as Fenn pointedly pointed out. Whatever desire he'd felt for Lily in the heat of the moment had simmered down by now, but as long as it kept the dog off his back, he would be happy enough to be on the good side of the one who held the leash.

A moment later, the trek resumed after a final spurt of vinegar from Fenn. Souta found himself wondering why the hellhound talked like that more than anything. No matter how sophisticated or above-it-all he tried to sound, Souta reasoned, he just a mean, mad dog on a leash, his only real claim to fame being born with more power than he deserved. Still, he shivered a little despite the jungle heat. Something else to shoot at might calm his nerves more than anything, but since arriving he hadn't seen a single monster that wouldn't look hilarious with a flea collar. Knowing that Fenn would be listening to his conversations from now on, Souta tried for eye contact with Lily to issue a nod of thanks.

Wrath's journey in the undercroft network was as quiet as one can expect, he could hear some of the fighting above, and very occasionally some part of the undercroft would shake, but it never felt like it would give way. Whoever or whatever made these halls, they were very sturdy. As he went through he began to notice spiders, very tiny ones crawling along the walls, not unusual given where he was, but the webbing began to become thicker, and thicker, and thicker still. Not unusual until entire walls were white with webbing, as he observed one of these, he realized these webs were quite fresh. As he approached one of these walls to better ascertain what these may mean, he in a rapid and fluid motion drew his blade and cut down a Broodling behind him. Spiders, larger spiders, and as he observed his work, his senses cried out to him, that there were many many more closer to him than he thought. These spiders did not seem like the ones that Silitha made, a different look, but their styles did not match the jungle, meaning this was a minion of hell, either making a home, or spreading their influence. He would run into a web wall that had the sun and some light shining through, but some twisted magic made these webs more powerful than he could conquer. It seems he may have to find the source first, or find another way out.

As he turned to continue his path, he would be beset on small groups and wave after wave of broodlings and spiders, some smaller ones hatching from fresh eggs, while others lay in ambush.

---

It was an unlikely duo, with Mary having left as affairs for the Order required her assistance, plus Nero was going to be entering the field soon, it was down to an old man and a sarcastic teen. As they managed to traverse through the rough and uneven patches, eventually finding what could only be said as an old and forgotten road, knowing this only because their feet went from stepping on soft jungle soul and foliage to ancient cobblestone. Finally, they had something to follow in this thick brush where the trees towered, the canopy like a second sky with pillars of light shining through, as they looked around they found themselves amidst a path, the trees were no longer so closely packed together, making this area more spacious, almost as if they had just passed through some kind of threshold.

Before they could take even a few steps they heard a booming voice as a small unit of angels had shown up. It looked like they were merely on patrol until they happened upon them. They were the standard angels from the Army of Light, who were much less monster-like than the Heirarchy, there was no need for immediate combat it seems,

"Humans? Here? This is no place for humans, leave at once", they warned. It seemed as if Akoni and Henry may have to fight their way through if they refused. As their hands began to reach for their weapons, the angels were suddenly set upon by demons. Two Assaults leaped from the thick brushes below the angels and took down the one addressing Akoni and Henry, before a few more jumped up behind the next two, with the last two of five angels at the very back suddenly impaled by Chimera Seeds, and pretty soon they became a thrall to those parasitic seeds.

In moments, it appears they were to be fighting demons instead, which may fare more convenient considering their alignments.

---

It was hard for Fenn to find the trail of Sevrin, mostly due to it being tainted by the many angels and demons locked in a dynamic and constant state of guerrilla warfare, however eventually he tracked it to what appeared to be a lake, but that was where the trail seemed to end. The stench of a defeated demon was strong here, although for a demon such as Fenn it was more like rotting fish, thus he was able to ascertain it was a demon that could thrive in water. For now they no longer had Sevrin's trail by smell, in fact if this is where they were led, it may not be difficult to figure out where he went from here.

Regardless, this was where the trail led, them, as the party looked around they noticed that there were ruins jutting out of the lake, it seems they were approaching the center of this jungle going this direction, suggesting whatever Sevrin was after, was there. As they walked along the lake they realized there was a cobblestone path making itself known to them, covered by years of dirt and erosion, some of it still remained, leading them deeper into the jungle. That seems to be where they must continue.

As they strolled along their way, Fenn's senses suddenly shot at him, and sure enough true to his instincts, he backstepped quickly as balls of flame erupted at his previous location. He turned to the source of the attack, and there it was sure enough, a Storm Warden, hovering over the lake, along with a sizeable group of Angel Soldiers. It seems the angels had orders to attack any demon on site, regardless of alignment, as they could care less it seems.

"A shame, I had hoped to make this easy. Men, aim", he ordered, as a group of Angel Soldiers switched their halberds into a ranged mode. It appears they intended to fire a volley.

"Fire!", it seems battle was upon the party as the angels made their first move, firing a coordinated volley upon them. Beams of light with flames of destructive fire from the Storm Warden's Redemption cannon soared over the water towards them.

Had it not been a sign of apprehension lily would have breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that had Fenn really wanted to kill the smith, he would have simply lunged at him rather than pretend to be obliging a request of his. Nevertheless, she did not want to risk any enmity between her current companions.

Thankfully she had managed to defuse the situation, and gotten them back on track. She fell into step with Souta once again, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. "Are you okay?" She asked, with something like genuine concern in her voice she realised. The Hound's words came back to her, bringing with them a sense of clarity. She studied Souta more closely, noting his frankly unimpressive looks. Even fit as he was, he was far from the most impressive specimen she had ever encountered, but he also was not the least impressive. Then again, to someone like her could change skin and fur in a matter of moments, something like outward appearance mattered little to her. Far more than anything else it was her own vanity that compelled her to always be attractive, not because she felt a need to be beautiful, but rather because she enjoyed the looks of envy and admiration it garnered.

But when it came to mates, it was always a matter of character. A mate in the upper echelons when it came to appearance was not a bad thing, but it was not a requirement.

So she had found a new human she wanted to pursue? Where things would lead, she did not know, but for now that that was not what they were in this forest to do. She could think about potential mates when they were done and back at the citadel, she thought to herself. For now they have a demon to catch. And the sooner they caught him, and dealt with him, the sooner they could get this damnable Seal under protection and away from those who would destroy it. One step closer to defending Earth, hopefully.

She put a hand on Souta's shoulder, squeezing slightly and offering him a smile. "Stay near, I'll keep you safe." At least until such a time that they weren't in a situation where even she might face a foe stronger than her, she added to herself.

As the first of the Broodlings split into two from the swift slash, Wrath followed the initial slash up with an Earth Render, slamming Rage Bringer into the ground to split it open, the chasm that appeared to swallow the unsuspecting demon spiders opening wide like the maw of some hungry beast, snapping shut and crushing those that didn't scamper out of it in time without mercy. As the creatures disappeared into the dark, likely to wait in ambush, Wrath placed the Death's Rain on his back and sighed. Well, I could find another way around, but that would take longer than I have. And likely the reason this way is barred is to force someone into a trap down a side path. Of course, I don't know where the source of this magic is, but perhaps killing it would get rid of the spiders too...

After another moment of mental debate, the Nephilim decided to set out and find the source of the magic and put an end to it, despite the numerous foes likely between him and it. The prospect didn't daunt the Council's Servant at all, though it might lesser beings. For him, the prospect of a good fight coming up in the future only made his pulse race. Sometime down a side path, a group of spiderlings attacked the Nephilim and found themselves split in two by the powerful horizontal arc of a Cleaving Slice. He could tell it was going to be a long search already.

Henry finally made it to a good clearing, the trees weren't quite so close together anymore which meant he finally had some breathing room. Henry looked at his sidekick and smiled, old guy probably appreciated the space considering how much he had been complaining. Suddenly a loud voice boomed from above them and Henry sighed. It was going to be one of those days huh?

"How about you mind your fucking business assholes!" Henry reached for the frozen toucan on his shoulder and threw it at them, not even getting close as the bird shattered on the ground. He already missed it.

Luckily for them the Angels were quickly killed by a pack of Demons, two being impaled while the rest were taken out by some Assaults. Nice. "I've got the Chimera Seeds, you take the Assaults." With a cold flash Frosty appeared in his hands in the form of two SMGs, already unloading on the Chimera Seeds' thralls to try and finish them quickly.

@floodtalon@Sho Minazuki

It was unfortunate that Mary's attention had been called elsewhere for this mission. Akoni had somewhat liked her. His new associate? Not so much. More power than sense, and in the grand scheme of things it wasn't that much power either. He wouldn't have been surprised if the half-demon kid got himself killed by mouthing off to the wrong people in the very near future. If he didn't know his own temper, he wouldn't be surprised if he were the wrong person the kid mouth off too. Such an anger management problem, such a mouth, it was surprising that this half-breed was actually as young as he was. Or maybe that was the perfect evidence to showcase the kid's youth. That rash inexperience. Regardless, Akoni refrained from gate walking the cricket into the sky, or introducing him to horrors unknowable. As little as the old mage cared for this companion, an ally was an ally in these dark times. Akoni wouldn't shed any tears if Henry died, but the cryokinetic teenager could at least be useful until then.

That was another thing that bugged Akoni, Henry's age. Clearly the Charred Council held no reservations about recruiting children, that much was made clear when Midori had joined him back in the Ancient Library, but her fate was uncertain and now here was this new kid to take her place. Midori was overcome with the naivety that came with her age, while Henry exhibited the brash side of that equation. Were the Charred Council really recruiting worthwhile agents if they had to resort to these individuals? Or were they simply throwing any bodies they could find at the problem without regard to life and hoping that something stuck? The first possibility was indicative of incompetence, which Akoni had already written off in his discussion with Fenn. The second implied desperation, which was more believable given the circumstances, but there was still something else. Something hiding in the shadows, behind the veil of it all.

The elderly man's attention had been wrested back to the present when addressed by a few angels from the Army of Light. Ah, these were potential allies. Unlike the Laguna, they could be reasoned with. Distrustful to be sure, but given the circumstances they had every right to be. With the right words, Akoni knew that they could be a boon in this ques-"How about you mind your fucking business assholes!"

...

"If you do not die here, the universe is truly an unfair and imbalanced place," Akoni mumbled beneath his own breath. He mentally and physically prepared himself for an assault thanks to the incredibly tactful and charismatic Henry, only to find an entirely different assault on his hands. While Henry barked out orders he had no right to, the older man was already jumping into action. With a snap of his fingers, music materialized from nowhere and Akoni was already defended as four gates materialized around him in his Tortoise Shell technique. An assault had already launched itself toward him, either blind to the purpose of the gates or incapable of stopping its own momentum, but caught up in the attack regardless.

A suitable defense now in place, Akoni got to work manipulating the battlefield for their own advantage. He called upon the magics of his new book, the Dunwich Diary, his eyes glowing a murky blue, emanating small wisps of shadow. Around the clearing, just on the outside of his gates and around the enemies grew the Stygian Eyes, ready to burst into caustic acid once any living thing got too close.

Not wanting to make a big deal out of the last few minutes’ events, and knowing who was eavesdropping, Souta responded to Lily’s question with a simple nod. He did not shy away from the touch that ensued, but neither did he give a display of warmth in return. The hellhound’s animosity had put him on edge, and considering the circumstances of the mission, dulling that edge wouldn’t avail him. Should he feel inclined, he could speak to her after the day’s labors were done. That said, he did offer a terse smile to acknowledge the demoness’ pledge of protection, even if he didn’t like the idea of relying on someone else for his safety.

Fenn’s ears twitched, the sounds of inane conversation once again disturbing his focus. His tail roiled angrily behind him, but no words left his throat. He had given his warning. If her choosing to pamper to human rather than focusing on her own objective brought about consequences, he would not be held accountable.

That said, this could become problematic later on. There was no telling how irritating the Magpie could become if he grew too confident in the Imp’s hold over the hellhound. Like a coddled pup mistaking their sire’s authority for their own. Those invariably made nuisances of themselves until such a time as they pushed those boundaries too far and the patience of others waned. Naturally, the farther one had pushed, the harsher the punishment became. To be both frail and foolish was deadly.

And there stood the human in the company of demons. He who had interfered in battle, given enemies a weapon to harm Fenn, and with careless words and ignorance poked at a chip in his pride. He was convinced the pest would continue to vex him. It would have been best if the Imp had kept to herself, and the human had given him a proper excuse to crush him. He could tell the man had been on the verge of lashing out.

Alas, it seemed unlikely that the Imp would allow it. If there was to be a silver lining, it was perhaps that the boy might become the prime target of her more aggravating habits.

The tall trees blocked most of the light that fell over the jungle, shrouding the underbrush in damp shadows such that as they neared the edge of the tree line, the light seemed to form a shroud that prevented one from seeing outside the confines of the forest. Nonetheless, the pungent scent that wafted their way was a clear indicator of what had happened ahead in their trail.

Fenn was the first to reach the edge of the lake. Ears and tail were tensed attentively, and he gave the open sky a displeased look. Compared to the innards of the jungle, where his nose and ears could single out a threat long before it became visible, this place left them much too exposed.

Grunting, he put his nose to the ground once more, approaching the water. It seemed their quarry had been delayed, but the nature of the encounter made problematic what would have otherwise been convenient. The scent of the snake was there, almost drowned by the rotting stench hanging over the clearing, but the trail led directly into the lake’s shore. It occurred to him that the snake might have been ambushed and killed by whatever had dwelled in the water, but he quickly discarded the idea. The beast was clearly dead, after all.

“The trail stops here,” commented the hound.

As the beast drew to a halt, Souta navigated his way around him at a wide berth until he stood by the water’s edge as well. He’d already guessed by the halt of progress that Fenn had lost the scent, though as best he could remember from a certain show, water did not so much muddle smells as amplify them. Since he couldn’t do a better job, however, Souta kept the silence as he scoped out the area. He looked into the jungle to the left and right, and across the water—every direction but up.

Lily stopped as well, taking a few steps away from her companions. Her elfin ears actually perked upward as she looked around, scanning the forests around the lake. “What now, Fenn? Do you have any idea what happened here, except our quarry getting away?”

Fenn obliged, as though waiting for the question. “A large demon made its way into this lake. It perished here not too long ago. The snake came across it. There must have been a confrontation.” The hound’s nose twitched, and he began circling the lake, concisely rattling off the observations he could make. “What scent remains of our objective under the corpse-air goes into the river. The snake was either dragged in or jumped in itself. We must find where it came ashore again. If it did.”

“No way it was Him. He’s way too powerful to simply drop dead in this place.”

“‘Twould be a great disappointment,” Fenn sneered.

“Indeed,” Lily echoed, eyes still scanning the area. “What of the ruins?” She asked, indicating the once-buildings with a nod of her head.

As she had indicated, not far from them there was a point where the remains of the ruined city approached the water-line, coalescing into a cobblestone path leading deeper into the jungle. The still-surviving walkway seemed to invite the wanderers to follow , and as the hound stepped onto the stone, his nose twitched.

“Sure enough, the snake came through,” Fenn grunted. It occurred to him that if more paths such as this one survived, they might need only follow the roads to reach the Seal. Which meant time was short.

He had begun to take a step forward when a noise came from behind them. Fenn backpedaled just in time for a fiery explosion to erupt before him. How droll. The demon wheeled around with a snarl, quickly sighting a group of angels floating over the lake.

Fenn took stock of the weapons aimed at them and pushed to the front, the chains in his arms writhing and coiling into themselves. As the angels let loose their barrage, Fenn brought his arms forward, and the angelic fire crashed against chains that had coiled themselves into great discs. The claws of his hind legs dug into the cobblestone as he stood to the explosive force of the lead Angel’s cannon, and spheres of flame formed in the hands holding the shields.

Then the hound had the slightest of hesitations. These angels were but a waste of time. To confront them might mean letting go of much greater prey. However, if they retreated the pests would have no issues harrying them throughout the jungle were they to simply follow the cobblestone road.

He gave the Imp an irritated glare over his shoulder. Both her and the human had remained behind him, taking advantage of the cover his large body provided. It was her duty to choose.

Lily looked momentarily about as irritated as the hound felt. Nevertheless, she nodded to Fenn and said, "Eliminate them." She then took a step away from Souta, let fire consume her body before she took off in an arc above the Hound and the angels, a trail of fire following in her wake. Both Fenn and Souta could hear the gleeful laughter of the demoness' at finally having her elemental powers restored. Already a ball of fire the size of a handball was forming in her hand, growing rapidly as she flew higher.

The smaller angels took note of the threat and aimed upwards, following Lily’s flight with their weapons. Only the Storm Warden remained focused on the wall of metal covering the hound and the human. Shouldering one last impact from the explosive cannon, Fenn glared back at Souta. “Move!” he commanded, before twisting away. The chains unraveled, just as another projectile sped past him.

Putting his thoughts about Lily being a potential yandere aside, Souta sorted out his inner turmoil in a jiffy by leaping into action. The spontaneity of the situation forced him to conjure the weapon closest to his heart, despite not fitting with his elemental theme as well as some of his other arms. Into his hand appeared the warhammer Escre--his overall favorite tool of destruction, for to him, smashing foes flat with brute force was far more satisfying than any amount of shooting from a distance or snaring with hooks. Upon summoning the hammer, Souta flourished it, and a ethereal ectoplasm-green skeleton shot upward toward the incoming cannon shot. The impact detonated the blast mid-air, throwing some ash and heat Souta’s way but leaving him otherwise unharmed. Angels, huh? Well, he respected some angels for their benevolence toward humans, but cannonfire fell pretty low on the benevolence scale, so these had to go.

The fireballs Fenn had prepared left his hands in the motion, lobbed towards the smaller angels just as Lily’s Supernova left hers. Lily’s fire sped past Fenn’s, headed for the center of their formation, but the angels were ready for return fire. They spread out, the fireball whizzing past only a few inches from the Storm Warden’s side.

Fenn’s fireballs reached them a moment later, but there was little hope for impact. Thrown much too high to touch either of the smaller soldiers, the flames seemed ready to simply speed past them. However, just as they passed above the angelic soldiers, the bottom of the spheres’ ripped open like a burst balloon, and fire rained on the group with explosive force, smashing half a dozen into the water.

Spitting out a curse, the Storm Warden once again pointed his weapon at the enemy.

Souta’s hammer hurtled his way. The large, sudden, and highly intrusive metal object provoked a simple reaction from the angelic lieutenant: to bring up his cannon to block. While the impact force pushed him back a few inches, no follow-through meant that it bounced up and back. The hammer did not, however, fly alone; the next moment, Souta himself came sailing toward the Storm Warden, having been bodily tossed by a couple of his summoned skeletons. This time, the projectile smacked into the Storm Warden’s torso, and as the smith bounced off, he unrolled himself to snatch Escre from the air and swipe with it as he fell. Four skeletons dove onto the Storm Warden, clambering over him like starving wraiths. They wrapped themselves around his body, particularly his wings, restraining movement and prying into armor. Content with having set up the squad’s captain for a speedy takedown, Souta plummeted toward the surface of his lake, where he would be in his element against some of the lesser angels who’d fallen into the drink themselves.

That, in turn, set up the perfect situation or Lily. Up above, she yanked back her outstretched arm, launching a hand into a fist, thereby making her ball of fire change direction immediately - rocketing towards the back of the Storm Warden where it exploded with a cacophonous boom. The explosion launched the lead angel all the way to the lake’s shore and left the lesser angels ,unfortunate enough to be close to the detonation, singed and struggling to stay aloft.

Disoriented, most of his body burning from the heat of the explosion, there was little the Storm Warden could do when a massive weight settled on his chest. The last thing he saw were two rows of fangs. A moment later, Fenn looked up from the dead angel, blood dribbling from the corners of his mouth, and his eyes settled on the large cannon that had clanged against the ground only a few feet from the Warden. He bared his fangs.

One of the angel soldiers, having bobbed up to the surface with a gasp for air, suddenly slid back down beneath the surface with a violent splash. Underwater, Souta had summoned a Trawler and hooked a sunken tree trunk on the lakebed, and by reeling in the chain whilst clutching the ankles of the angel, the smith pulled the angel deeper and deeper until his struggles became weak and he breathed his last. Souta’s own magical bulwark of water created a second skin of air surrounding him, not much to breath but enough for the time being. With one of the peons taken care of, he kicked his feet and headed back up.

Overhead, the remaining angels hesitated. Scattered by the demons’ fire and without a commanding officer to rally them, the soldiers wasted whatever opportunity they could have had for a counter-offensive in clumsy attempts to regroup. Instead, their formation was broken once again as a volley of white projectiles struck the nearest to the shore.

Fenn showed the soldiers his bloodied teeth from where he stood, the Storm Warden’s cannon held in one arm and aimed at the enemy.

The reality that they’d made a great mistake in underestimating the other side of this chance encounter weighed upon them like bags of sand strung about their necks, but combined with fear and another barrage of projectiles from the shore it hastened the beat of their wings as they retreated. The light of their golden wings shot toward the edge of the canopy surrounding the jungle lake, then disappeared. With their absence, the usual jungle ambiance returned, and were it not for the corpses nothing could have very well happened at all.

Fenn grunted, unceremoniously dropping the weapon he had taken.

Lily alighted on the ground between Fenn and the lake, the plasma-like fire making of her elemental body, dispersing soon after and returning her to her sídhe appearance. She turned to look at the water, watching the ripples and bubbles break the surface.

"Is that all of them?" Lily asked even as she projected floating ring attached to a rope, and threw it out to the Smith, intending to help him back to shore. "I expected a bit more, even from small fry such as these."

A couple seconds later, Souta emerged from the lake of his own volition, his clothes sopping wet and an annoyed expression on his face. Evidently, he’d made his way to the edge and then walked up the side of the lakebed to get out. ”What kind of birdbrains set up a half-assed ambush like that? They didn’t even light us up and I still get dunked. Probably got parasites.. He dug a finger around in his ear to get the water out, scanning the are as he did. Once he spotted an opening in the trees at the bottom of a fern-lined ridge, he indicated it with a jut of his chin and piped up, ”Maybe we should get goin’. Betcha they’ll be back, and in greater numbers.”

Having chosen to go deeper into the lair of what may be a queen of spiders, the webbing along the walls got predictably thicker, often Wrath would find himself jumping down web pits to advance, but pretty soon he was seeing spider eggs in large droves. Soon he jumped down into what appeared to be a kind of large domed antechamber.

He can feel it, this room, or rather, the room beyond held immense power, could the seal be beyond there...? No, the Seals held a different kind of atmosphere, different to power. Though now may not be the time to have such thoughts. The sound of crinkling and gnashing caught his attention as he turned to see the back of what he recognizes as a Broodmother, one of Silitha's. Though Silitha herself is dead, it seems her children still thrived in unknown parts of the world, such as this one. As the Broodmother turned to face the new invader, Wrath began to notice this particular Broodmother, did not look like an ordinary one. Though most features stayed the same, it's legs were longer, as it spread out, and it's features were more sleek. It was beginning to look a little like Silitha.

The Broodmother gave a shrill cry before small broodlings began to hatch from the myriad eggs from the edges of the room and attempted to swarm this unwelcome invader.

---

The Assaults may be demons that can give even seasoned demon hunters among the DHO a hard time in a group, but Akoni in his age and wisdom, and blessed with a powerful arsenal of magic, but Assaults were not the best thinkers. Whatever attack they threw at the four gates and Stygian Eyes combination resulted in failure, their two-dimensional methods were not working. As Akoni simply waited for them to tear themselves apart, a Chimera-infested Assault managed to leap over the gates and into the opening above, but as soon as Akoni had noticed it, the familiar sound of SMGs roaring pelted the demon out of the air, dusty leafy debris flying from it as the Chimera infesting the Assault was clearly killed before the Assault was.

It was not a difficult fight, Assaults were mere fodder to them, even Henry would find them easy, despite his age and experience. Still they were now onto the next order of business. There was a path before them, one they found before this mess, it was either follow this road mostly hidden by the jungle and time, or wander aimlessly yet again.

---

With the angels routed, their commander and some of the men killed and sent to a watery grave. It was true what Souta had stated, they will be back, although in how great a number was up for debate, the entire jungle was filled with angels and demons duking it out, they would be a little hard pressed to find sufficient reinforcements. Still, it was more likely that there would be more later down. The path along the lake led well into the ruins up ahead, somewhat shrouded by the jungle, but amidst the thickets they could see moss-ridden stone structures almost hidden.

After cleaning themselves up and going on their way, they following the path eventually came to the ruins, gate wide upon, it seems they were in what appeared to be a ceremonial building, if the markings on the outside and some of the statues hidden away by the overgrowth were to be believed, although right now it was more an atrium than a building, as the roof was destroyed, giving way to seeing the jungle canopy, green and small pockets of light shining through.

After entering the center of the entrance hall, they realized that this was a building part of a complex, much like shopping malls, but this was less a shopping mall and more like a temple.

There were a few ways to go, they can cut through the ruins towards the center, where their target likely lay, or they can examine these ruins further, as there seemed to be some minor detours, plus looking into these ruins may gleam them some information that can help them. Fenn did not have a strong scent here of Sevrin, but he could smell some of it, he was definitely here at some point before them. There was not quite a trail, but maybe they can find one if he really was here.

The course of the trip deeper into the lair of what Wrath was almost positive was a broodmother by this point was fairly uneventful. Spiders would make their efforts to attack him and find themselves anywhere from turned into sliced arachnid to very bloody pulp inside the crevasse created by Earth Render. The webs grew thicker as he walked and the source of the power became stronger. However, with how quickly things had changed in appearance, it had the Nephilim wondering if this Broodmother had been here a long time or if she had arrived recently. It would be hard to tell. With Silitha dead, it's not like we can bust down her door and ask her where her children are. The thought brings a wry chuckle out of the Nephilim as he slices through some webbing to progress forwards. Not that we really could before.

Making another jump into a large domed chamber, he looks around and can sense it, that something powerful was nearby, perhaps even the source of the power blocking his way forwards back in the main tunnel. However, as he goes to move towards it, the sound of crinkling and gnashing pulls his attention to it's source. It was definitely one of Silitha's, with it's crystalline back and other features. However, once it faced him, the Nephilim found himself frowning in concern. The legs had become slimmer and longer, it's features sleeker. In fact, it was beginning to look frighteningly similar to the deceased Queen of Spiders herself, almost as if she was becoming the Queen. As it screeched, Wrath pulled his sword free of it's place on his back, readying himself. "Alright then, let's dance."

As the tide of broodlings rushed forwards to overwhelm the intruder their mother had designated, wrath unleashed a powerful horizontal slash in front of him, the Cleaving Slash opening up enough space to allow him to plunge the blade into the ground, creating a crevasse that swallowed those that escaped the first slash before slamming shut and introducing them to a rather pulpy ending. Turning his attention to the Broodmother itself, he can't help but grin. "Going to take more than fodder to kill me, spidey."

Zarrath hefted his katana as the blood spikes appeared and gave his own small smile as a rune manifested, creating a barrier between himself and the attack. The after effects kicked up a lot of dust, but his blade managed to deflect the spear off to the left. He had learned last time they fought that allowing those barbs to lock with Shadowsteel too long can only help Layla and unleashes an Arced Slash at the demoness after leaping back, the vertical slash rushing at her. Zarrath used it as cover, sheathing Shadowsteel and waiting for her to rush in for the attack once more in a crouched position, one hand gripping the sheath just below the crossguard and the other around Shadowsteel's hilt.

Despite efforts to draw in close, the angel managed to deflect Zalmonah to the left before leaping back and unleashing a vertical slash that sent a wave of holy energy crashing at her. Put in an awkward position, she created a spear-like 'chain' made of blood, with an open hand, and sent it crashing into a nearby tree and pulled herself out of the way. After evading the attack, she rushed in, using 'Blood Blast' to coat her weapon in blood. However, Blair stopped just out of range and planted Zalmonah into the ground, causing an explosion to erupt, causing earthly debris to scatter all over the place, interferring with the remaining waves of his previous attack. Using the aftermath as a distraction, she charged in and, Using Ragdoll, thrusted her spear at the angel in attempt to stab him and fling them into the air.

As the spear shot towards him with intent to impale, the Angel unleashed his Eviscerate, the horizontal slash connecting with the spear's tip and, for a moment, it would seem that neither would give ground. However, the moment quickly passed and the two evenly matched forces forced both Demon and Angel to slide back. Zarrath slid into a ready stance, his katana held up in front of him and gripped with both hands. "Perhaps it's time we both quit testing each other, hm?" In a flash, the Angel closed the distance between himself and Layla, unleashing a series of swift thrusts and slashes, the blade becoming covered with holy flame at odd intervals. With in less than two seconds, after images began to appear and strike where the real blade just had, except any attempt at going through them was found to be impossible, as it felt like hitting a real sword upon contact with the image. This technique was Zarrath's Blade Storm, a difficult move to counter or escape.

While her attack was once again thrawted, there wasn't even the slighest change in expression on Blair's face, treating the exchange complete indifference. However, as they forced each other to back off, the angel's words caused a dangerous smile to form on her face, making everything up to this point seem like some kind of game to them. Remaining silent, she readied herself for the upcoming counter-attack. Having gone on the defensive, she focused on blocking and diverting the dangerous thrusts and slashes, of which were imbued with holy flame at odd intervals. Almost immediately, countless after images of the angels began appearing and striking where the real one had. Blair managed to block the more serious of blows, but nontheless still was struck by the onslaught of blows. Deciding her next move, she continued to stay on the defensive. Over the course of the exchange, she started 'appearing' to lose focus and thus allowing more attacks to strike.

However, the truth of the matter was that over the course of the exchange, she began focusing on casting another spell. Despite being struck countless times, Blair had a twisted, chilling smile on her face. Having casted her 'Blood Spike Projection', she created 4 good-sized blood spikes, 2 of which formed behind the angels back, to his left and right. Giving the mental signal, the spikes came crashing down at him and just when he moved to respond, Blair moved, revealing the 2 blood spikes that were hidden behind her back, leaving the angel trapped. With this, she moved in with Zalmonah, striking the angel's sword arm with her spear.

As the spikes of blood erupted behind him, Zarrath reacted, mostly on instinct, with another barrier rune, defending him from the rear, with Shadowsteel coming up in a defensive position for a spear strike, which was instead revealed to be another pair of spikes. Holy flame covered the length of the katana as it's weilder countered with a pair of vertical slashes, one going up, the other coming down. However, it left him open to Zalmonah's strike, even if it glanced off his armor. Rounding on the demoness, the angel made a tenative slash at her to make her dance back, but found that his arm didn't move as fast as it could, feeling a slight paralysis sensation. He could feel no rune magic, something that he'd only seen Fallen use anyways, so he chalked it up to some kind of poison, which his armor offered no protection against after all.

Showing no outward expression of reacting to her well played attack, Zarrath focused for a moment before all the runes along Shadowsteel's length blaze brightly. One of said runes appears beneath Layla and after a moment, erupts upwards in a spear of holy energy. However, it was never meant to actually strike her and the angel appeared on her right side as she dodged, the glow of the runes diminished, but a slash catching her right arm, a golden rune appearing where it contacted, though it was a superficial wound. Ideally, the demoness would find that use of her right arm would be greatly diminished, if not gone completely as the Angel retreated with a pair of backwards hops once more. "It would seem that, once more, we are at in impasse."

She had to take a few shots, but doing so enabled her to get in and strike Zarrath's armor with her spear. To those unknowing, one might laugh it off and boast about the strike not getting through upon contact. But to those who have fought against her before, a strike like that is more than enough. For her demonic spear, not even armor nor magic of any sort can guarentee a stopping of her blows. Which Zarrath was able to experience once more as he felt his arm wasn't exactly up-to-par for his forth-coming assault. Though, even as Blair continued to dodge his blows, he managed coax her into position with a slight trick as he appeared on her right and slashed at her right arm. Almost idential of a situation, she too found the use of her arm greatly diminished from the paralyzing slash. Though, even if she loses use of an arm, she's still far from done and the angel knows this all too well.

Moments after the strike, she once again used 'bloodline' to create a spear-like chain to wrap around Zalmonah and recalled it to her left hand. By this point, Zarrath had retreated backwards as Blair looked on as if it was no problem at all. At the angels words, she grinned. "So it seems. It's a crying shame that we don't have limitless time on our hands." One had to wonder if all of this is on purpose, First with Kushiel and now once more with Zarrath, someone out there just won't let her go all out and finish a fight. Well, she always puts the mission first but occasionally an all-out fight is whats needed.

---

Zarrath chuckles, looking around them. "It reminds me of the stalemate we came to the last time we fought, though we were both far more worse for wear than we are now." The angel indicates Enepsigos. "And there was no other witnesses."

"None of them was fortunate to stay alive anyway," referring to the minions that came with him that day. "Or Unfortunate if you think about it, don't think the others would've liked what I had planned for whoever ended up surviving anyhow." Blair went a little far that day, once she invokes her Berserker style, her personality shifts completely and her desire for blood and carnage reaches unimaginable levels. That said, she did have fun draining them of their blood. Angel blood has quite a rich flavor, after all.

"Perhaps, but that was a long time ago. I take it you are here to destroy the seal then? If I had to guess, you serve that pompous jack ass Mundus, as Queen Sheba, to my knowledge, prefers things as they are." Zarrath made sure to keep an equal distance between Layla and Enepsigos, not trusting the other demon to not try and launch some kind of sneak attack.

In response to his question, she simply remained there in silence without a change in her expression, as if to confirm it. It's hardly a secret after all, them knowing so wouldn't prevent them from destroying them. However, his next statement finally aroused a reaction."Serve? Hardly," she said with a mocking laugh. [color=9e0b0f]"I prefer term 'Work'. I'm merely an 'employee', putting it in Human terms. We Demons work quite differently than you Angels do." she grinned.

While some demons might serve out of loyalty and devotion, they're in the minority. The Majority, on the other hand, were much akin to mercenaries. Most either flock to money or power or for some, both. Some for personal reasons, some for lack of ones. Some are used, some use others. There are all kinds. But to her, 'to serve' brings loyalty and devotion to mind. Blair might work for Mundus, but not a trace loyalty or devotion is there. Personality aside, one doesn't need to be loyal, or even like them for the matter to work under them.

Due to the grave situation of the seals for each side, with one wanting to destroy and the other to protect, both of them knew that neither of them could afford to waste anymore time here with a drawn out battle. In short, there was no reason for her to stay anymore. Despite the conversation, there's no way a high ranking Angel will allow an equally high ranking demon to escape.

Luckily, she brought along the perfect ally for situations like these, Enepsigos. With her ability of Zone control along with her Illusion abilities, it makes things much easier. All she needs to do is give the Madamma the signal and draw his attention away from her so she can do her thing. Problem was, despite her not being in the battle, Zarrath was being quite cautious of Enepsigos.

In short, she needed to distract him long enough to drop his guard, in the form of a faint attack, so she can do his thing. However, just as they were about to move, a change could be seen in Zarrath. Seeing this, Blair decided to stand down and see what he does next.

Zarrath had been about to make a comment in response to Layla when a blairing cry for aid came from a squad of angels, commenting that they had just had their leader, a Storm Warden, downed by a Hellhound, Shapeshifter demon, and a human, along with several of their fellows. Growling softly at having to allow Layla to escape again, the Angel spread his wings and flapped once, hovering several feet from the ground, looking at the demoness. "I suppose we'll have to leave this battle undecided once more. But, allow me to leave you with a warning. The Charred Council has sent their own agents to secure this Seal against Heaven, Hell, and anyone else attempting to interfere with the Balance. Don't underestimate them or it won't be my blade you find yourself spitted upon." With that, Zarrath turned and flapped again, soaring upwards before moving swiftly through the trees towards the source of the call for aid.

@Sho Minazuki@floodtalon

A lesser hunter would have been torn to shreds immediately by the assaults, as evidenced by their quick dispatch of the angels. Such creatures were powerful, very fast, and twitchy enough that their movements were not readily predictable. It was just for creatures such as these that Akoni had developed his Tortoise Shell defense and the technique performed its duty perfectly. The old mage kept a calm, level head during the entire encounter and as such most of the demons died without him having to even move. Even as the chimera-infested assault attempted to attack him from above, the old man clenched his fist and morphed Lammasu into a long wrist-mounted blade. Before he could counter-attack though, the creature was set upon by a hailfire (almost literally!) of bullets from Henry. With that all the demons had been killed, with minimal effort on their part.

With a grunt and a crinkled brow, Akoni dismissed his gates and sent the Stygian Ortiz back to the far reaches of the cosmos from whence they came. With a single nod of acknowledgement for the young half-breed, Akoni stepped over to one of the fallen angels, whichever appeared to be their squad leader. Kneeling down and without even the slightest hesitation, Akoni plunged the blade fashioned from Lammasu into the angel's chest. With a few extra slices and a little carving, he had successfully opened the holy being's chest cavity and severed the heart. With the angel's heart in hand, he stored it away in a small extra-dimensional pocket, then cast a cantrip to clean off the blood from his body.

Straightening up, Akoni turned to look back at Henry. "That skirmish took too much time, and now we have a path to follow. Grab my hand and we'll move much faster with my Gatewalker magic." He held his hand out for Henry to take, and if the kid did so, would take them both along the path as quickly as he could, utilizing his Surge technique.

The demons were quickly defeated, Henry mowing down the Chimera Seeds and Akoni taking out the Assaults pretty easily. While Adonis was busy ripping out an angel's heart, Henry was going around freezing every body, then shattering them into icy dust to remove evidence of the fight. Akoni offered his hand to Henry after they were done and Henry smirked. "Sure, I'll take a quick ride." Henry took Akoni's hand firmly, Akoni would notice that Henry was definitely way colder than the average person, and they were off. The only evidence they were ever there would be the frozen toucan Henry had forgotten at the battle scene.

The Broodlings were going to be a rather simple task. This... Princess? Brood Princess? If Silitha is Queen. Either way it did not seem intent to stand by while it's children swarmed Wrath. The mutated Broodmother began to glow with a blue-purple energy before spewing a small barrage of webbing like bullets, before crawling backwards up the wall, it seems intent on resuming this style of attack. Meanwhile some of the broodlings began to encircle Wrath, while a main force rushed him from the front. There was a lot to contend with, but based on it's need to move up the wall, it was not that advanced yet. This may still be a bit of a challenge with the seemingly endless swarm of Broodlings.

---

As the unlikely pair reluctantly accompanied one another down the somewhat hidden path, they found themselves stepping down a stairwell, in the middle of the jungle, leading them to a long tunnel. Large, spacious, it was strewn with dead angels, feathers everywhere and destroyed armor. There was nothing on the other end, but they can be sure whoever or whatever did this had gone through here. Likely a demon, so whatever they were going to see on the other end was such. As soon as they emerged they could see the site of a battle, scattered all about, they seemed to have found the hot-spot, somewhere near or on the No-Man's Land of this battle. They could even hear the bedlam of screeches and clanging and gnashing of weapons and flesh halfway through the tunnel.

However what was more to their interest was the great structure near the end, they seemed to be fighting over entry to that mostly. So likely something relevant to them was in there, however they had a battlefield to cross.

The straight path that was obvious to them was also right through the middle, it's likely they'll have to get into a fight that way unless they had some plan cross it in a flash, or they can take a detour through the jungle and sneak around, this was of course to reach that building. There was another path that led in another direction, a detour, but that would mean forgoing this building for awhile.

---

The ruins did not seem to be of interest, or at least immediately. Fenn was more eager to follow the trail now that he's picked up a cleaner direction just outside the ruins, and the general consensus was to follow it before they lose it.

The unlikely team exit from the halls of that grand ruined building, and found themselves going down what may have looked like a city street, albeit it's almost completely covered by overgrowth. The lush green with pockets of sunlight peering through the towering canopy, with the faded and mostly hidden cobblestone paths and destroye d buildings claimed by either moss or vines, it was a serene view. If it wasn't for the sudden shriek somewhere in the distance, one would have forgotten a large battle was taking place around them.

As they walked down this path, a large building began to loom ahead, passing the fountain at the center. Fenn took a moment to reaffirm the scent. There was no mistake. The scent leads directly to that building. Though as they reach the archway of what they suppose is a ruined village, they spotted two angels up ahead, talking. They were part of the Army of Light it seems. The first few words prompted everyone to decide to hide and listen instead.

"A great door you say?",

"Yes. I was asked to scout it not long ago. Some angels are already there studying it to figure out how to pass it", shortly after, a few more angels swept down. Though most looked the same, Fenn recognized their scent. It was the ones that fled from them earlier.

"Hmmm...? Where's the commander?",

"He has... Fallen in battle. We are here to warn that there may be some- Hm?!", the angel panicked drew his blade. He looked around, but he didn't seem to see anything.

"N-no... It... must be my imagination...", was it fear? Instinct? Either way, he was on alert, and it caused the others too to go onto alert.

@Sho Minazuki@floodtalon

Coming to a halt so he could observe the scene, Akoni drank in the carnage. Angel and demon locked in bloody warfare, the only clear victor here was death. Yet on the other side of this horrific battlefield stood some sort of structure, likely ancient. Neither side was gaining any ground as they battled tooth and nail over entry. The old mage just shook his head. Normally the fastest route to a destination was always a straight line. However, when your specialty happened to lie in bending space and tearing conventional physics asunder, well, screw that noise. The two of them needed to be as fresh and capable as possible when they located Sevrin. Defeating him with the Yamato, even untrained, would be incredibly difficult. Capturing him alive would be borderline impossible. Best not to waste any strength on the fodder between point A and point B.

"It would be unwise to engage them. The target is still out of reach, and incredibly powerful." With his succinct explanation out of the way, Akoni began to cross the battlefield. His Gatewalk range was only 60 feet, and even at the blindingly fast speed produce by his Surge technique it was still bright enough to gather attention, so getting to the doorway of the large structure was instead a question of creating gates that would propel the two high up into the air, hopefully above the attention of angel and demon alike. From there he could Surge across the sky, and ultimately Gate them back down to earth, right in front of the door. As long as all went well, they would avoid any combat.

In days far off, full of brightness and innocence and wonder for the future, a young child had watched a movie called Indiana Jones. At least, he watched it with Japanese subtitles, but it did not detract from the experience in the slightest. More than once in the course of the viewing little Souta had lost track of what was happening in the movie as he, filled with excitement, leaped to his feet to sling imaginary whips, leap between the couches and coffee table as though they were boulders, and slid beneath pretend doors just before they closed. For what seemed like the longest time afterward, any time the Hyobanshis want on a family vacation and visited some ancient site in a foreign land, Souta prowled around the ruins in search of treasure, constantly scanning for traps, and inventing his own obstacle courses, much to the admonishment of his parents and older sister.

Those days had long passed, but Souta felt echoes of them now as he meandered through the ruins, a short distance apart from either Lily or Fenn. After all, these walls and floor could very well be filled with traps. Souta hoped they weren't. Last he checked, he had no handy whip, lifetime of athleticism, or plot armor. When all possible trails but one were cut off and the time came to leave this patch of ruins behind, the smith did not dilly-dally. He hotfooted it after the hellhound, the way to their goal restored.

Personally, Souta didn't know what he was expected to do when the trio arrived. Last time, the irritating archwatcher Panoptos worked on his own to protect the seal, but this time the smith had the mixed blessing of his nonpresence. Perhaps once he, Lily, and Fenn secured the seal -for he did not doubt there would be adversity to prevent its acquisition- the Council would send in someone or something to seal the deal. Without much to go on, he redirected his focus toward the present, and the path that lay ahead. Through the jungle extended what might have been a thoroughfare in days of yore, and down that jungle-lined lane the agents of the Charred Council strode.

For a moment Souta admired the great archway, which had somehow survived the test of time to stand to this day, but when unknown voices reached him through the warm breeze, all thoughts of the scenery were lost. After the trio got into cover, he hazarded a peek through a crack in the stonework. Angels. Were it not for the ambush earlier, he might have invoked Gilgamesh Co.'s policy of neutrality with the Army of Light and tried to speak to these warriors, but now such an idea seemed neither appropriate nor productive. After a few moments, more angels arrived on the scene, and they began to speak. Unable to hear or see exactly what was going on, Souta pressed himself against the barrier and craned his neck to see through, only to dislodge a lump of loose stone and knock it to the ground. Though the noise was muffled in the leaf litter, it still managed to spook the nearest angel. Souta winced, but it didn't seem that the angel had detected them. Still, they didn't seem very happy, and any minute they might start shelling the shrubbery with those handheld cannons. The smith, seeing the advantages of both eliminating the threat and a stealthy retreat but not a foolhardy charge into action, waited to see what his allies would do. He got the feeling, though, that beings with far greater innate power than he would gravitate toward one option in particular. With this in mind, he summoned Deluge to his hand.

Lily was not the biggest fan of jungles. Not that she did not appreciate the beauty of an untamed wilderness, but the swarming bugs and innumerable branches, that constantly got in her face, quickly became an annoyance that she would rather be without. She had wandered through jungle before, particularly the amazonas, and found even those places to be less bug infested than this place. Or was it simply the distant sound of fighting that annoyed her?

Even if that were the case it did not make up for the one thing that this forest lacked the most: Humans. Aside from Souta, this place felt as abandoned as the frozen south. The ruins spoke of a lost civilization which had once lived here, and made this forest their home, but intriguing as they were in their overgrown glory, buildings that have long since fallen to rubble did not hold the same potential for entertainment, as a few tribes did. Ruins she could make into an ominous and mysterious abode, and while that could be a year or two of interesting work it just could not match the fun of being worshipped as a living, breathing goddess, or to play chase with said tribes as a "malevolent" demon or spirit. Humans were so diverse and unique, they were always a source of entertainment where there should have been none. Old ruins? Not so much.

It was with those thoughts on her head that Lily followed Fenn, as he steadily brought them closer to their quarry. Where Fenn kept his nose to the ground, Lily kept her eyes and ears open. Her elven ears caught the sound of voices shortly before Souta heard them and guided them into a cover. She dutifully followed, motioning for the hell hound to comply as well. He wasn't likely to simply follow the Smith, so she figured that a command - even if a silent one - from her was necessary. Fenn wasn't known for his willingness to work together with others, after all.

Angels, she thought. They sound like the same ones we just fought earlier. They sounded confused, frightened even. Souta's clumsiness may have contributed to the angel's paranoia, but them thinking that someone was nearby was only part of it. Like a snake, cutting off the head had proven quite successful in spreading confusion. But what was the first mention of a door? An intriguing bit of news. Lily smiled, she had an idea. She moved to a place with higher cover, where she knew that she would still be in hiding even at her full height, then unceremoniously stripped, tossing her close to Souta with the request that he handle them with care until she came back. Then she changed.

Her hair remained the same silvery-white colour, but shortened to just below her shoulders as opposed to falling to her hips. Her body grew more bulky, muscular and less voluptous. Following that luminous wings erupted from her back and quickly pulled back tight against her body to avoid any accidental sightings of her mid-transformation. What followed was a serious of lesser changes that made her look more like an angel, and less of a Fae creature. When a full minute had passed, it was no longer Lily who stood there, but an angelic commander, complete even with the golden armour and an angelic sword. Her equipment were mere projections - made in the image of a female commander she had once met - but for lower ranking angels such as the ones aheard of them, the sudden sight of a commander coupled with the recent loss of one, would hopefully make them more than willing to trust her.

"Wait here," she whispered to Souta and Fenn before backtracking until she was neither within range of hearing or a line of sight.

When she was finally far enough away from the angels she took to the air and flew across the trees until she reached the small opening in the trees where she could drop down, making certain to approach from a different angle than she actually came from. She landed close by, but not within striking distance, and turned to the one who had spoken off the door earlier.

"What news?!" she demanded.

Wrath heard the sounds of the webbing bullets sailing through the air towards him and he rolled to the right, barely avoiding whatever consequences came with taking a hit. Coming to a standing position, Wrath unleashes a Cleaving Slice, turning the rush of Broodlings into blood and goo. Still, there was the issue of being surrounded. "Silitha, quit hiding! Fight me yourself!"

---

Zarrath hadn't realized that the routed angels had been as far from his and Layla's battle, and by the time he found them, it seemed another commander had also answered their call for aid. Flapping his wings as he landed, which caused a wave of dust to be kicked up, he set down and approached the group as she asked for news.

Why would she need to be told? Their call for aid was heard across all channels... Deciding to be wary of the female commander, he answers the question with what he knew while probing her in turn. "Did you not hear their call for aid across the communication channels? They came under attack by an unknown group." While the female commander to come up with some excuse to not knowing, he turned to the Lieutenant on site. "Lieutenant, what else is there to report?"

"Silitha? That old hag is dead, at the hands of one of you accursed Nephilim no less!", the coarse yet high voice echoed as the broodlings sped across the antechamber's floors towards Wrath. The voice was coming from the Mutated Broodmother. So... Was she her replacement?

"I will not go the way of our queen! We shall become strong, and surpass her! I have consumed her remnants for this ambition! Go my children! Tear this one's skin from his flesh!", from what Wrath could gather... Silitha was long dead, and this was the new queen of the brood. Regardless, it looks like he'll need to fight. The broodlings he cut down were immediately climbed over by the coming horde behind them, but as that was happening, no more were coming from the edges of the chamber... A limited spawn perhaps? Still, he can't just keep cutting up Broodlings, plus the web attacks the Broodmother was throwing at him were starting to constrict the area he has to move as they made areas difficult to move in wherever they landed.

---

The teleporting stunt by Akoni was rather flashy, while it succeeded, it attracted the attention of the angel commander. Though he had no forces to immediately chase...

"Humans...? They should not be here... More importantly...", he nodded to a few of his angel guard and they were off after Akoni and Henry. Meanwhile on their end, they'll make it into the ruins at least. The area not being secured yet meant none of them had made it into the ruins, but as the two enter it looks like they were working on other ways already.

As they entered, it became apparent that this place looked like a parliamentary hall, rows of seats and a podium and stage in the middle, further back behind that was a striking statue of a woman holding an orb. Even as a human, Akoni can feel the radiating power from it... Was this what they were after? And why? It's not the seal... Maybe it was just war assets? As they stepped down towards it, they heard a commanding voice from behind them.

"Halt! You humans should not be here. In fact if you're in this deep, you are both no mere humans... If you are in league with demons then I will cut you where you stand", the Angel Champion and two Army of Light Angel Soldiers stood at the doors behind them. However at the same time, both parties heard the sound of something skittering, as they turned to the front, a Hatred and two Hideous entered through the ceiling, almost silently falling to the center. Immediately the angels prepared to fight, and the demons seemed keen to kill just about anyone, with both Akoni and Henry in the middle of it all.

Fortunately the Champion leapt over the two to engage the Hatred, while the Angel Soldiers followed his lead for the Hideous'. There were a lot of opportunities open right now as they all seemed occupied...

---

The angels kept silent watch until their focus was broken by the sound of a female's voice. It was who appeared to be Uriel, or at least, Lily impersonating her. She seemed to get it right down to the voice, being mostly right. Enough that it passed. It wouldn't matter as shouting voices often sound the same anyways. She demanded a report from the angels in a commanding tone, to which they immediately stood to attention and complied as their training causes them to do,

"Commander Uriel Sir! The sealed door we found in the ruins up ahead is still being worked on, however our scholars have confirmed that this is the central building. Very likely where the Seal is located. We've identified that there are three power cores needed to open the door, however there was only one at the site. We need two more. Our forces are currently engaged in combat with demons around ruins near here for one of the power cores, and the other, we are still waiting on a report from", the angels on patrol had finished their report. Immediately the angels from earlier made theirs,

"Our squad ran into rogue demons and a human heading this way commander! Our squad leader was killed and I am resuming command for now", Lily of course knew this.

"But... Commander Uriel... Please permit me to ask, I thought you were not stationed for this mission, leaving command to Commander Kushiel instead", one of the angel soldiers piped up.

For the two waiting in back, it was amazing that Lily's ruse got them this much information. So they needed power cores for the doors? Furthermore two were somewhere in the area, but didn't sound like they were near. The ruins up ahead were likely occupied by angels too. Regardless, Lily will have to think of a response quickly... Or just slaughter them right now. They were all lesser Army of Light angels after all, but it may alert the ones up ahead in the ruins.

@Zarkun
Although... Speak of the devil, or angel really... Before Lily could say or do anymore, another angel appeared, by the looks of his gear and atmosphere, this guy was one of the commanding angels. It was Zarrath, not that they knew who that really was.

The angel answered the other commander's request, "N-nothing else sir. All fronts have not changed in any way just yet", a simple answer.

As Zarrath figured out the next course of action, the female commander looking strikingly like Uriel began to make him suspicious... Most would mistake her for Uriel, but the atmosphere this one held was different, or rather, she had a similar atmosphere to a demon of all things... Should he simply let this slide...? No, they were in a battleground. Any deception could be fatal after all. But how to approach...

Knowing his options were quickly growing limited, Wrath charges the oncoming wave of broodlings and leaps over them, landing behind them and splitting the earth open with another Earth Render before facing the supposedly new broodmother as a plan formed in his mind. "You think Silitha wasn't prepared for her eventual death? That she didn't anticipate one of her Broodmothers trying to take her place? She was a powerful and ancient demon, being unprepared isn't like the wise. I'll bet she's subtley influencing your mind even now as she takes it over and erases who you are." If there was one thing the Nephilim had learned in fighting demons, it was that he could count on their distrust of each other to be a weapon against them.