Interesting. A door needing power to be opened? And they suppose that this ruined building we are in is where the seal is located? All of this was valuable information, Lily thought, clicking her tongue. The question now was how to proceed from here. She already had a lot more information than she had expected, and she figured that with the subservient attitude of the angels she could possibly get even more out of them. Possibly even convince them of things they would otherwise deny outright.

And then came the question, that damnable kernel of doubt and suspicion. These angels, low rank as they were, knew who their commanders were; who were present and who were not. In her mind she cursed the small fry, but on the outside she did not so much as twitch an eyebrow. She could kill them easily if she wanted to, but no matter how little it was it was still power spent that she might have need of when or if they ever met Sevrin, and had to fight him. Continuing the deception was her best option - not only did it conserve her power but it also might offer other advantages.

She was about to speak up to explain "Uriel's" presence here on the battlefield when a stranger angel dropped from the sky, immediately blabbering about things that she did not need to be told, and seemed confident enough to seemingly take command of the gathered angels - in the presence of Uriel, of all things. This sky was either bold or stupid, or maybe both. His equipment give him away as an angel serving under the army of light, which meant that there was no way he would not recognise Uriel. Did suspect her? If he did then why had he not called her out on it?

No matter, he did not seem excessively Powerful so there was no reason to believe that he outranked Uriel, and so she still had the option of brow-beating them with authority. He had mentioned a call and angels coming under attack from an unknown group, however, which brought to mind something else the angels had mentioned - specifically the two that had appeared after Lily and her companions had begun observing them. So they were the ones that had fled from their encounter. That made things easier, given as now knew who they were talking about.

She turned to the newest angel, squaring her shoulders and letting her wings spread just a bit as a show of superiority. "It is not your place to question me, soldier," she began, She knew of Uriel's rank, and it was a safe bet that this one was her inferior. "Of course I heard the call for aid, but that is neither here nor there - My business is the White City's business." She turned her that she addressed the other Angels as well.

"I am speaking to you because there are hidden players using this battle to move their pieces undetected. The Charred Council included." She looked pensive for a moment, thinking. The angels were numerous and could be an asset if used correctly. Was it possible that she might be able to use the angels without them realising that they were being used? It was worth attempting.

She turned to the angel that they had fought before. "You - you mentioned rogue demons in the company of a human, did you not? They are likely agents of the Charred Council, otherwise Humans and Demons would never work together. Spread the word. Keep tabs on them, but do not interfere. They will flush the other parties out of hiding. I do not care what you must do, but get this message to the other officers."

"Now, I have duties of my own, so I leave you with this task." She turned and was about to head off the way she'd come when another thought occured to her. She looked back over her shoulder, at one of the lesser angels while ignoring the newcomer. "One more thing," she said, her tone of voice low and intense, "should you see anyone bearing the demonic sword Yamato, do all in your power to stop them. Kill on sight, any other objective is secondary." She then spread her wings and took off.

Her job, hopefully, done and deception successful, Lily went about making her way back to Fenn and Souta, intending to circle far so that she couldn't be tracked.

As "Uriel" went to take off, a barrier created by a rune appeared in her path. As commander of the Hellguard, leaving the White City before Hell's Vanguard has attacked would see Uriel locked out and marked a traitor. Show us your true face, demon." Had this pretender not had a tainted air about her, and Zarrath not arrived, her deception would have worked. But her luck had not been so great as that. When she turned to face him, Shadowsteel would be free of it's sheath, the runes along it's length glowing with magic. "I've spent many centuries under Uriel's command and know her well. It was an admirable effort though."

The barrier was nothing that Lily could not break through if she wanted to, but for the moment it still made her stop, preventing her from getting out of sight. She had truly hoped that she could go through with her deception. However, the convenient arrival of this... The words "arrogant child" came to mind, caused the entire thing to crumble.

She wasn't averse to violence, but fighting with these Angels here and now only allowed Sevrin to get closer to the seal uncontested. He was the Dangerous one - the one demons and angels alike should be wary of. On some level Lily could perfectly understand why the Troublemaker had called her out, but on another Level it vexed her greatly. People called demons evil, the only thing and their mind being destruction and corruption. But so often the angels were just as bad if not even worse than demons. The mindset one of extreme xenophobia - If you were not one of them, you were not good enough.

Perhaps she was getting too annoyed, as thinking about how annoying angels were was not a prime concern at the moment. She turned around to face the katana wielding angel, spending just the moment to shout over her shoulder, in a tone that brooked no argument: "Fenn, Souta. Stay. Put!"

When she looked at Zarrath again, all pretence of being Uriel was gone, the disguise melting away in a matter of seconds - leaving Lily he had been just prior to her disguise, arms crossed over her chest. "You're making a grave mistake, Angel. It is true that I am not Uriel, but my warnings and information is the truth." She nodded towards the two angels that have been in the ambush. "Those two were among the ones that ambushed that. If you want to blame someone for the death of their comrades, blame them for they were the ones who struck first. Nevertheless-" she looked back to Zarrath "-We are here on business on behalf of the Charred Council. We seek the seal to bring it under the protection of the Council and prevent a premature beginning of the End War. There is also the demon wielding the Yamato. We were following his scent when we were attacked. I do, genuinely, advise that you spread the word of his presence. Even at just a fraction of his true power as he is now, he is still a threat to all of us." She let her arms fall to her sides, her pose seemingly relaxed and unafraid, but fries spoke of a different story: Wary. "If you leave now, no harm will come to you. But if you insist on fighting me, you invite death upon yourselves." She gave a pointed glance towards the survivors off their previous engagement. "Your choice."

After some teleportation shenanigans and mild disorientation on Henry's part, they made it some strange orb that was probably really powerful. It felt that way anyways. Angels chased after them, demons chased after everyone, and now everyone was trying to kill each other. Henry looked at Akoni and shrugged. "Wanna ditch these losers and grab the orb? I can set up a quick defense to keep them away." Its honestly ridiculous that the angels chased after two random dudes when there was a war raging on but whatever.

@floodtalon@Sho Minazuki

Akoni quickly dragged Henry along with him, bypassing the full scale divine war happening right outside the doorstep. Once inside the great structure, they had come face to face with an orb emanating power. Henry could feel the power, but Akoni was an educated wizard. He didn't need to feel anything emanating from it to understand how important such an artifact was. Either the demons and angels outside were battling for this prize, or it was one mother of coincidences. Akoni didn't believe in coincidences. It was his job to obtain the artifact in support of the greater balance.

"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!" Akoni sighed inwardly, turning round to meet the angels head to head. If they had found the time to slip in after two "humans" (a partial truth but one the mage felt no need to correct) then they should have focused more on defeating the legions of Hell. Still, there was an easy way to clear this all up. Either these beings would respect the higher power of the Charred Council, or be blinded by the battle fervor.

"Stand down. We serve the Charred Council," Akoni ordered, rolling up his sleeve to show the branding mark the Council placed on his body when he was recruited. "No force in the universe can duplicate this mark! Now return to your war outside and let us attend to our business!" Unfortunately for both the duo and the angels, the angels' misplaced focus had caught up with them. A number of demons attacked in a surprise, taking their divine counterparts unaware. Well, that settled that then.

Henry said perhaps the first thing that Akoni could agree with the entire time he had known the child. While Henry setup a defense to keep the angels and demons off of their backs, Akoni opened a gate directly to the pedestal that housed this orb. It was a simple matter of reaching his hand in, and grabbing the artifact.

"LIIIIIEEES! I saw her die, that's just not possible!", even though the Broodmother had said that, she seemed to doubt those words even a little bit. After all, to an underling that treated Silitha like a god, it was entirely possible. Still while it was getting to her, it only agitated her further, using her giant legs to crush the area where the Nephilim stood in an attempt to attack, before flinging some more webbing. The Broodlings simply crowded up and gave chase.

"Silitha is no more and I now take her place! You Nephilim scum will pay!"

---

As the skirmish raged around them, their sprint towards the artifact was littered with the crossfire of the fight, whether it was angels firing, or both parties' colossal weapons destroying the place. It was destructive enough to make an archaeologist cry. Regardless, they had the opportunity to go for their goal. Upon reaching it, the battle began to favor the angels, the Army of Light soldiers, though they lost one, had banded together in formation and easily took out the Hideous, while the Champion continued to fight the Hatred.

As Akoni attempted to make a warp gate to grab the artifact from afar, the magic was immediately blocked. That power radiating from the orb... It was preventing him from being able to use his gate, but it wasn't like it erased it or anything, it was more like... It was so dense that no other magic could occupy the space around it. They'll have to actually pick it up by hand.

"Cease at once humans! Or we WILL cut you down!" he managed, before blocking yet another assault from the demon.

---

As Lily's disguise was blown, the lesser angels seemed ready to jump, weapons at the ready. As her true form came to light, one of the angels recognized her from before.

"I-It's her! There must be more of them, she wasn't alone", great, there seemed to be no use in keeping Fenn and Souta hidden now, though they weren't seen just yet, so maybe there is some advantage to be had here. The air tensed as the angels kept their hands on the trigger, it seems as part of training they immediately now take orders from the commanding angel present, this being Zarrath. Fight or let it slide for now? The choice was up to Zarrath, or Lily should she simply decide to attack, but considering the information they gleamed, there is no point in fighting them now.

"Th-there were two others... Demon, where are they?! I know they're with you, hiding around here somewhere!" in a panic the lesser angel was the one making demands. There were roughly five Army of Light soldiers here, three of which came from the vanguard that Lily, Fenn and Souta slaughtered earlier, the other two were posted here as guards.

---

As Blair sneaked around, being fairly deep in the Angel side of territory, beside her was the demon, Madamma Enepsigos, though thanks to her they can basically take a stroll in this side of the woods.

"Hmmmm, if this place wasn't teeming with demons and angels, I'd be rather happy making this a holiday retreat, wouldn't you agree?"

"Well, in any case I can consider that later once all it's current occupants are evicted. I've caught wind of something a bit interesting", she began. That's right, her control of the area around them lets her receive information too, allowing her to eavesdrop without much difficulty.

"The angels appear to be looking for 'keys' to a door of some kind, apparently there are three keys. Looks like they already have one of them, found the location of one, and the third one they have a lead on, but some spider demons are clogging the way. As commander of this op, it'll be up to you what to do", she informed. There were two obvious choices for Blair right now... Wait and hide at the door and strike once they have all three keys, or find the other two keys and force her way in for the third which is likely under guard. Either way, it seemed many forces were on the move in this forest, things were volatile but they can still move freely, as not even demons can notice her thanks to Enepsigos' skills.

Wrath dodged both the blow and the webbing with well timed rolls, but the webbing was coming closer to it's mark with each volley. Gotta end this soon. Cutting down another group of Broodlings, the Nephilim barks a short laugh. "If you're so sure Silitha is gone, why are you so determined to get revenge for her death? You don't find that odd?"

---

Zarrath did not respond immediately, but he did hold up a hand to indicate to the other soldiers to stand down. "If I had intended a fight, the barrier between you and your exit would be much stronger than it is. I first intended to make these angels aware that they were being fooled. My second is a simple question. You attended the mission to the Undersky with Wrath, correct?"

"Alright, this isn't working. Get ready for a fight." Henry sighed and took out Frosty as it morphed into the form of a sniper rifle. He aimed down the scope at the Hatred, slowing his breathing down to steady his shot. Henry held his breath as the sights lined up with the demon's head, pulling the trigger as he released his breath. The bullet would likely lodge itself into the Hatred's head and stop, unlikely to hit anything but the demon. Unless it dodged of course, which would really suck considering that would bring all the attention onto him.

Frosty morphed into a pistol and he holstered it, immediately shifting into Cryomancer mode in case he was attacked. "The old man is right, we're with the Charred Council. And I think our goals are in alignment right now, preventing the apocalypse and stuff."

@floodtalon@Sho Minazuki

Akoni found himself lost in a mix of wonder and frustration in regards to the orb. On one hand, the fact that it radiated so much power it disrupted his attempts to create any gates nearby was truly a marvelous anomaly, something worth study and observation. On the other hand it made obtaining the orb significantly more difficult, which wouldn't be that much of a problem if it weren't for the demons and angels fighting all around him. Confound it all! If things were going to go his way, he'd have to give up on the artifact for the moment and focus on the situation at hand. They could grab the thing once the threat had past.

As Henry shot at the hatred and voiced his support of Akoni's words (something the mage was significantly surprised to hear himself), the mage decided to unleash his own power upon the two hideous. First he prepared himself by summoning Squamous Armor, a thin layer of hard scales covering his soft, fleshy skin. Then he uttered words unknowable, summoning two patches of Charnel Limbs, one on the floor and another along the eastern wall. This led to his main assault. Calling upon the power of his gatewalk, Akoni distorted space to create 4 portals in total. The first, directly in front of himself. The exit to that first portal would lead above the head of the first hideous, whereupon he would toss himself at the creature and slam his fists into it in order to knock it into the floorbound Charnel Limbs. Should that go according to plan, the recoil of the strike should send him into the third gate, which would exit right behind the second hideous. He would then swing his arms around in a hammerfist strike to force the demon into the Limbs attached to the wall.

Assuming this all went according to plan, the wizard would unleash his final coup de grace. A flame, a small spark of anger deep in his soul flared to life. He was far from the most agreeable fellow, but always kept his anger in check, until now. The angels, self-proclaimed champions of light and justice, could barely be called entitled toddlers with nary a grasp of the situation. The demons fought tooth and nail to infringe on the rights of life held by other creatures. Even his own partner, a mere child, was a thoroughly unlikable individual. That spark broiled into an inferno until the flames burst forth from his body. The mystical aura around the old wizard took on a flame-like appearance, his blue glowing eyes now burning with the blue of a white-hot fire.

"Behold, the power bestowed upon the agents of the Charred Council! Firebrand!" The old man reached out and with a snap of his fingers, the decayed, writhing limbs that hopefully were holding the demons set ablaze with the same mystic fire that surrounded the old wizard.

Lily's eyes narrowed dangerously. That was not information he should possess. Let alone the fact that he knew as small a detail as Wrath having been there with her. She knew that the Nephilim had ties to Heaven - He was part Angel after all - but that did not explain why he had given potentially crucial information, to a faction that might well be there anyway. A Traitor? Double agent? No. He may be more muscle than brain, but no one would be so stupid as to betray the Charred Council.

No matter. What was done was done. She could not change the fact that Wrath had leaked information you should not, but what she could do was to make certain that anything he had said couldn't be verified. "I am an agent of the Charred Council. That is all you need to know." She paused, just long enough for the non-answer to make frustration take root before continuing. "And if you had intended a fight, you would have attacked the moment you had the slightest suspicion that I was not Uriel." She gave him a smile that could hardly be described as anything but condescending. "Don't try to fool me, Boy. We both know the truth; that you were scared that I might actually have been who I claimed to be, and that you risked breaking your own silly little laws."

She took a step forward, then another, arms no longer crossed, but hanging down her sides and spread ever so slightly - an open and welcoming gesture. She stood there, facing the angels and smiling. It was an un-guarded pose; unconcerned. Confident. It was one predator's message to another: "I am not afraid of you. You are not a threat."

"Now," she said, "I do believe you were about to let us about our business, correct?"

From his hidden position, Souta watched the proceedings with palpable intensity. By the fierceness of the look of determination on his face, it seemed, he hoped to bolster the chances of the gambit's success. As one might expect from a demonic trickster with centuries and centuries of experience, Lily was doing well. The angels, riled up though they were, seemed to believe her. When she mentioned the Charred Council, he grimaced, but in a matter of moments the demoness span it on its head to try and extract safe passage from Heaven's forces, should her ploy succeed. Very good! Too good. That kind of cunning and talent for deception is not safe. He felt sure now, upon seeing the apparent effortlessness with which Lily duped the angels, that he wanted to keep her at arm's length at least.

His sidetracked mind returned to the present abruptly, however, when Lily's attempt to leave encountered sudden and unexpected resistance. Souta watched, sweat beading on his forehead, as a new angel arrived to the scene who seemed to have his ally figured out the second he arrived. Less good. Not good at all. Being found out made him nervous, of course, but now that he thought about it, couldn't Lily take this guy? He talked big and looked tough, but the smith had seen Lily in action, and he felt that nobody the trio might encounter this early in a mission could possibly challenge her. Curious, he put aside his trepidation to focus on what came next.

Out of all possible options, Souta did not expect Lily to instantly betray his position. ”What. Why.” Leaving them as hidden backup would have been a far smarter move in his estimation. Did she think he, a lowly human and metalworker, was going to spring out and whiteknight her the instant things started going sour? Hah. Regardless of what Fenn did, Souta felt that the ball was still in Lily's court for her to play with as she saw fit. Now that the angels knew that she had company, however, he could not help but fidget and reflexively summon his defensive weapon, Silverbeast. The gleaming clawed gauntlets appeared on his arms and hands, ready to rip and tear or grab and block, but their owner remained still. For a moment before he caught himself, Souta could not help but gawk as Lily reverted her transformation and attacked the holy warriors with a full-frontal assault, giving her allies a clear view of her rear in the process. Even for a demon...! She has no shame. He looked away, rolling his eyes, and listened to the angels going on the alert. They called him and Fenn out, and Souta's quickened heartbeat did not relent.

He couldn't quite make them out, but Lily and the new angel exchanged words. The auspicious lack of fighting made him think that a peaceful solution might be possible, but he wasn't about to make a chicken out of a feather.

"Make no mistake, demoness, I held no qualms about your real identity. Regardless," the barrier disappeared, "our goals align. I only ask you to consider this; we all know the Council is supposed to be the stongest power in reality. And yet, not only did the Undersky exist, the Charred Council held no power there. Wrath now doubts, as do I, just how powerful the Council is. If you have doubts of your own, I ask that you speak with the young Nephilim."

Turning away from the Demoness, Zarrath spread his wings to leave. "Let them pass, soldiers. And inform any other forces that pass through here, Army of Light forces are not to initiate hostilities any further." A curt "Yes sir" was given, and then Zarrath was gone, disappearing over the treeline.

"....." Continuing to move forward, she initially countered Enepsigos remark with silence. After glancing around, she simply shrugged before finally offering a reply. "....Too spacious." A reply wasn't really needed and the Madamma probably wasn't looking for one, but the demon general decided to go along with it anyway. She can only grin in silence at Enepsigos follow-through before the demon became serious.

It was another added benefit of bringing along the Madamma, as Enepsigo's area control also allows them to receive information throughout the area of control. Through this ability, they were able to discover the existence of a 'door' and three 'keys' to opening it. Blair could only assume that this 'door' meant the seal and the 'keys' were how to open it. And the Angels have one of the 3 'keys'. With this discovery two clear options were presented to her. Option A: Wait and hide at the 'door' while the others gather the necessary keys to open the seal and thus get them all at once.

Or Option B: Find the other two keys and force her way through the ones guarding the third. Each one carried their own risks, for example. Option A, among other issues, the main one would be 'who' ends up gathering all 3 keys and meets her at the 'door'. Many potential suspects comes to mind but the main two would clearly be 'him' or the angel Zarrath. She's not worried about another potential showdown with Zarrath, but 'Him' on the other hand....that alone is reason to worry.

No matter how confident one is in their own abilities, even one such as Blair knows when a certain task or battle may very well be impossible, well, currently anyhow. If she survives a confrontation, then escaping with just serious injuries would be a stroke of luck. That said, she'll still do the job regardless of who is in her way. It won't be out of loyalty to Mundus, but simply because she has things needing to be done that require her to be living.

Anyways, that's Option A's risks. As for Option B, this one one has many. First, Misinformation. Granted, inside Enepsigos controlled area, they'll be able to pick up on information regarding these 'keys' and the ones holding them but if she was able to receive the information, it wouldn't be too difficult to imagine there being someone who could do the same or better yet, be able to block her out. It also won't be too crazy to assume they could control the information and make the 'enemy' hear what they want them to hear and thus trap them.

Another would be time. How long would it take them to track down the other two key holders? Chances are high that the ones that have the other 2 keys having high mobility or the ability to elude pursuers and force them to run around for an undetermined time and that's something Blair won't tolerate. After all, 'he' is after the seal and after what 'he' did at the last one, she cannot give that man the time needed to smash through the seal.

All in all, she decided to just go to the 'door' and wait for her prey to come to her. Blair decided that this would carry the least amount of risks and thus be the better option. After all, either way she'll have to deal with 'him', along with Zarrath and it would also save her from wasting valuable time chasing down the keys along with conserving her power for when it counts. With her decision made, she let the Madamma know. "We're heading towards the 'door'. We'll have them run around and collect them for us."

And if lucky and they arrive their first, she could have Enepsigos lock down the area and limit access or at least try to. But she won't count on that. Either way, they had their destination and started moving closer towards it.

"Urgh..!", she grunted in what seemed to be frustration and irritation, but the broodlings stopped in their tracks as a strange pause fell upon the entire chamber.

"What are you insinuating Nephilim?! You talk and talk and talk, not fighting me. WHAT IS IT?! I demand answers or I will feast upon your tainted flesh!", her threat to someone like Wrath didn't hold much water, considering how difficult it was for her to catch him earlier, but it seems she was willing to talk. The broodlings looked just as irritated as she did, it seems she was curious, not like any rabid beast. Either this Broodmother was truly evolving, or something else was going on, either way Wrath had his chance to speak.

---

"Charred Council?!", the angel appeared rather surprised, but nevertheless he continued his fight, managing to push the Hatred off during a hold. Akoni and Henry's attacks were successful, quickly and cleanly dispatching the Hideous horde as they were already occupied with the demons. Some of the angels were confused... A human with forbidden power, and a half demon? Helping them? The idea was absurd, but as soldiers do in times of battle, they had no choice but to go with it. They were blessed by the Charred Council as it's agents too... And the angels had an allegiance of sorts with them, so perhaps things truly were so dire that they needed all the help they could get.

Now it was merely two angel soldiers, a Champion, an old man and half demon kid up against the remaining Hatred. Odds were not in it's favour, so this should be rather simple.

"I see... So then, desperate times call for desperate allies. If that is how dire the situation as the Council sees it, then we have no choice but to oblige. So long as we fight for order, we can be allies", the Champion led the charge into the Hatred, bringing his sword at the demon once more.

---

Zarrath was rather cooperative, but with the Charred Council allegiance invoked, it seems he had little choice but to honor that. After disappearing over the treeline it was safe for the unlikely party to advance towards the mausoleum up ahead. It was a huge structure, a brilliant gold could be envisioned as they looked to it's fading walls, rife with weather and jungle foliage such as vines climbing upon it, the double doors and appearance of the entire structure, one would think the interior was just as old, but as the angels pushed open the doors for them, what they saw was an albeit dusty, immaculate architecture. Whatever this place was, it was made to last for an incredible length of time. Immediately visible was their objective, which was the sealed door at the bottom of the steps, down into a giant pit and clearing at the bottom, this door was tucked up against the towering walls.

The door itself had three indents in it, with only one of them filled, likely the key that the angels had found. As the party stepped down in front of the door, an angel Champion that was standing guard looked to the party.

"We have been informed just now. You, agents of the Charred Council, it is an honor. Although unexpected that the council would take on demons and humans to do their biddings, both either too volatile or too weak... No matter. We shall get to business", it also appears this particular angel was going to be supervising the effort to open the doors.

"As you can see we need three keys, all are identifiably orbs, from what we understand they hold great power, so strong that it appears to block supernatural energies. We angels lose a bit of our power going too close to them, and demons too from what our observations report. Humans on the other hand seem to be unfazed, perhaps because they are not composed of supernatural energies. In any case, we have a lead on two of the orbs... You are all free to pick which one you wish to pursue", the angel flew around and a little further up to point them in the right directions.

"Scouts report that a brood nest contains a key, an entrance was found in a remote part of the jungle. However no one has managed to return from this task, it is likely the brood has claimed them, so I bid caution to be your ally", he lowered his hand, before turning and pointing it another way.

"Some of our forces are engaged with a demon horde in that direction, we are running low on reinforcements as the demons seem to have become attracted to the energy emitted from the key. Should we secure that position we will be able to retrieve the key without trouble", and with that he floated back to the ground.

"I will be waiting here and guarding this door with my life. Once the keys are retrieved I will inform Kushiel, and he and his accompanying commanders will join us", and with that he let them go about their business.

Wrath grinned as the attacks suddenly stopped and, while he knew he now had the upper hand, he also knew he needed to keep his guard up in case the broodmother attacked again. Remaining his guarded stance, Rage Bringer up with both hands on the hilt, one close to the bottom to allow for wider strikes when needed, the Nephilim speaks. "Well, think about it. You said you devoured Silitha's remains in order to surpass her. Not a bad move, as her remains would contain a nice bit of power for you to use for yourself. But, well, couple of things that should have been red flags for you. You look more like the late Queen of Spiders AND the moment I came in, you wanted me dead, ESPECIALLY since I was a Nephilim. So, with that out of the way, I want two things.

The first is access to whatever is supercharging your webbing back in the tunnel I came from so I can either take it or destroy it. Don't care which. The second, well, the second is eyes and ears across the jungle. In return, I can help make sure you and your brood are left alone. The third is a weapon, but I don't want to kill you if I don't have to and that right is reserved for someone else anyways." Silence reigned for a moment as Wrath let his words sink in and then he spoke once more. "So what say you?"

Henry whistled in appreciation of the firepower that Akoni was packing. Although he definitely looked very... annoyed while he was casting that spell. Weird. "Geez, don't sound too excited. You might have a heart attack guys." He commented sarcastically as he began to run towards the Hatred alongside the Champion.

Henry held up his hand and a stream of ice poured out towards the Hatred, looking to freeze it in place for everyone else to deal with. Normally he would make a bad ice pun here, but he felt it wouldn't be appreciated by current company.

@floodtalon@Sho Minazuki

Akoni did his best to ignore Henry's comments. The Champion, however, gave Akoni a measure of confidence that they wouldn't be a complete waste in this endeavor. With two angel soldiers, the champion, and Henry giving their full attention to the demonic Hatred, the old mage turned his eye toward the prize. There shouldn't be any way such a demon could hold up against such a blitz. The flames surrounding his magical aura died off into light embers, the Firebrand dismissed, its job done. Akoni focused on running toward the orb quickly as he could while the angels were focused on the Hatred. They might be playing ball now, but there was no telling if they would be so amiable to a human taking such a powerful relic, agent of the Council or not. Besides, he had exactly one goal today: finding and defeating Sevrin. He wasn't so naive as to think he wouldn't need every single advantage in that fight.

That was surprisingly easy, Lily thought, watching the pompous angel leave. She had half expected a confrontation to erupt after he blew her cover. Truthfully, a part of her had hoped that to be the case, if only so she could nudge him down a peck of two. He had seemed a little too grand, were she to be a judge.

Well, that and she might have been just a little spiteful that he saw through her disguise.

But that was a thing of the past now. Diplomacy had gotten them through the situation, and possibly brought them closer to their ultimate goal, and so now was a time to move forward and deal with what may come.

Lily headed back to where Souta and Fenn had been hiding, cursing the fact that she had not at least kept a pair of shoes on. Demon or not, the undergrowth of a forest was still uncomfortable to walk on. A few moments later she found her companions, and her clothes still with Souta, eliciting a small smile from the demoness.

“Thank you for taking care of my clothes,” she announced and gave him a small kiss on the cheek before picking up her clothes. His expression, so forcibly deadpan that he might as well have not made the effort, betrayed his unease as he turned away. Lily made no effort to get behind cover as she started redressing, though she did make certain that her pendant - the one thing she hadn’t taken off prior to her disguise - was visible, resting against the front of her shirt.

“So,” she said at length, fidgeting with the hem of her top to rid it of a few tiny twigs, “what do you say? Shall we follow them?”

“I am not keen on it,” rumbled the large dog. Great furrows on the ground where he rested his paws suggested this was an understatement. "You degraded yourself, seeking peace with a fool who should have known better than to call such a bluff."

Lily shrugged, smoothing out her shirt. “We know he is here. I don’t want to waste my strength fighting someone like those angels. If we do meet Him, I want to make certain that I get out alive. If momentary peace with angels is the way, then so be it.”

Still sporting his Silverbeast gauntlets, Souta gave a nonchalant shrug. “We can make peace with the angels and still keep our distance. It’s not like we don’t have enough firepower. If we have all the intel we need, we don’t need ‘em around. In my line of work, letting more people in on projects always means more communication, more things that can go wrong, more headache.” He crossed his arms, mindful of his claws’ blades but treating them casually enough to make a show of it.

“I suspect the peace will not last long either way. I recognize the name of this force’s leader. We met them on the Council’s first errand, Imp” Fenn let out a sharp huff of air through his nose, as though amused. “I expect that one will not take kindly to our presence.”

“That much is true,” she conceded, finally looking up at Fenn now that she was finished making sure her clothes were alright. “And if he decides he wants a fight, we’ll give it to him.” She turned to Souta. “What you’re saying is also true. We don’t need them around, but neither do we need them against us. If that guy from before is to be trusted, the Army of Light has been instructed to not bar our way any longer, so at the very least we have avoided unnecessary confrontations.” She hummed in thought, crossing her arms underneath her chest. “I think, for now, that we should just follow them and see this door of theirs. It can’t hurt.”

Souta nodded, ready to move.

A bit of teeth showed at the acknowledgement, and Lily turned to where the small group of angels yet waited for them. Lily had made no effort to mask where they were hiding, so they were within sight. “Let’s go then,” she announced and stepped out of their previous hiding space, moving towards the angels that would lead them to their destination.

They didn’t look particularly happy with being near demons, as their reaction to Fenn’s appearance showed clearer than even Lily’s previous unveiling of herself. The small jump of fright they made as the behemoth of a demon stepped out of cover, was almost too much for Lily. And yet, she managed not to laugh but the mirth did show in her eyes.

“Lead the way, gentlemen.”

---

“And this is why I don’t like angels. Their arrogance in presuming that they are somehow better, more righteous, than demons.” She spared a glance to Souta walking with them. Judging by the sardonic look and tone of Lily, she hadn’t been entirely enthusiastic about the angel who had briefed them. “They are the most xenophobic race there is. If you’re not them, you’re not good enough. In their eyes, demons are only slightly worse than humans.”

“I find it difficult to care, Imp” Fenn drawled. Only moments ago, the group had spoken to the angel in charge of the forces guarding the door to the seal. He had told them of their current situation, and explained that three keys were needed if the gate was to open. Unfortunately for the other two in their group, the angel had pricked the demoness’s pride in the process.

Lily’s condemnation of the angels, disregarded by the hellhound, elicited a shaken head from Souta. He held up his hands to assist the delivery of his perspective with gesticulation and said, “Big-time blanket statements like those...maybe they work for demons, but that’s not the whole picture. Sure, Laguna’s a bunch of monsters; Gilgamesh has trashed a fair share of those and gotten a good look at their gooey insides. Real textbook stuff there, with the pristine outside hiding the freakshow underneath. But Army of Light’s not half bad. Disciplinarian and haughty, sure, but in a war for survival...what’s the phrase? I’m still not good with English idioms. ...Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. In fact—” The smith cut himself off, his eyebrows furrowed. After a moment he shrugged and dropped his hands. “Ah, forget it.”

“You would be right, were it not for the fact that it’s not a war for survival. It’s a war of extermination.” She offered an apologetic look to Souta, as one might give someone who doesn’t quite understand something. “The Army of Light are disciplinarian, that much is true, and something to be admired at times. But they’re not fighting for their own survival. If they were, they would hole up in their realm, where they’re all at their strongest.” She turned away, looking through the lines of trees all around them. When she spoke again, her tone was sombre. “They kill every demon they come across, regardless of the intentions said demon might’ve had.” She turned back to Souta and Fenn again, a wistful look on her face. “It is not who you are that matters to them, but what.”

“This bellyaching is tiresome,” the hound cut in, clearly uninterested by the direction their discussion had taken. “Not to say irrelevant. What shall we do about the door?”

“To you it may be, but to me it isn’t,” Lily replied tersely. “But be that as it may. We need to do something about the door. Souta?”

The smith scowled, drumming up something he could say that would be both indicative and annoying. “No more bugs. Let’s exterminate some demons.”

“You are eager for one so small,” the hound spoke, a touch condescendingly, “but I fear you are putting the cart before the horse. If our goal is to protect the seal, and that gate leads to it, it may well be in our best interests to keep it shut.”

After a brief moment of consideration, Souta answered his ally’s point with a nod, and said, “Fine by me. We can still keep the keys from falling into the wrong hands, though.” He spread his hands. “It sounds like the bugs have one on lockdown, but who knows how long that might last. If we get involved in the battle, we can claim that orb for the Charred Council. Without it, no entry to the Seal.” His eyebrow furrowed. “Still, I think I remember Sevrin being able to bypass a barrier like this one in the ancient library. Or maybe he swooped in after we opened the door. Beats me which.” A shrug punctuated his musings, letting the other agents know that the decision lay in their claws.

“If he possesses the means to go through, we are likely already too late. If not, opening the gate to reach the seal may play into the snake’s plans.” Fenn let out a rumbling chuckle and glanced at his chosen leader. “A fine mess is in your hands, Imp. What would you have us do? We may yet turn back and smash the orb already on the door.”

Lily, having paid close attention to both arguments, didn’t take long to respond. “I think,” she started, playing with her hair, “that we should go for one of the orbs, keys, what have you. What we lack is information and we don’t know where Sevrin is, or if he can penetrate the barrier or not. If he can, then we might need the orb to open the door to fight him off. If he cannot, then we can’t afford to let him get his hands on one. For better or for worse, gathering one of the orbs leaves us with the most options, and the best hand of cards we can have at this point in time.” She tucked the lock of hair behind her ear and faced the direction where the demons were allegedly assaulting the angels, a mischievous grin on her face. “So, shall we give the angels one hell of a confusing time, by having a couple demons and a human helping them in battle?”

The sepulchral warhammer Escre appeared from a splash of water into Souta’s hands. “Gee, sounds familiar. But yeah, let’s do it.”

"Urgh!... Damn you Nephilim and your TRICKS!", the Broodmother smashed the ground in front of it, debris flying up at Wrath's feet but only enough to cause him to step back a bit and cover his face from the dust. The giant spider lady was obviously quite frustrated, she proceeded to beat up the area around here for a few more strikes before calming down and turning to Wrath.

"How can I be so sure you would be able to ensure our... Isolation? What influence does some lapdog Nephilim have?", the services she was asked of were easily providable, her brood did not only come in their large sizes as seen here, but also much smaller as well. Surveillance would be more than simple. As for the area barred off... The supercharged web was her own doing to protect this 'source of power'.

"And why should I relinquish that which is giving me power? My growth has been quite fruitful making my next around it, why should I give it up?!" She questioned.

---

The Hatred though isolated was resilient, it was... Positively glowing. Akoni's observant and wise eye would spot the glow was matching the orb... The demon was being fueled by the orb? No wonder they were attracted to it. Regardless of this, he managed to reach it, any attempts to use magic while holding it seemed to be blocked, not cancelled out, more like this orb occupied that space... But being someone experienced with magic, he felt like he could mold the magical energies around it. Although it being so raw meant what he can do with this is very simple, like lasers or blasts.

Still, he may need to, as the Hatred noticed him taking the orb and turned to him, the angels attempted to get it's attention again, but t was quickly swooped in by a small battalion of Assaults, roughly several lizard warrior-like demons jumped in, immediately slaying the angel soldiers leaving the champion who managed to cleave two with a mighty swing, but as Henry would begin to notice... There was an awful lot of activity surrounding them. It appears the demon horde fighting had decided to ignore the angels and head straight for this mausoleum. All the same, the angels decided the same.

From outside, Souta, Fenn and Lily would witness a horde of demons and angels clambering and cutting at each other just outside the structure. This must be the place. A mix of Scarecrow, Assault, Hideous, and Mephisto demons were strewn about fighting various Angel Soldiers and some squad commander wielding a variation of weaponry. It looks like the big guns were out too as a Storm Warden came down riding an Angelic Beast and proceeded to scorch a crowd of Scarecrow in holy ordinance. Quite a sight.

The battles were scattered though, so cutting a path into the mausoleum wasn't going to be a difficult task, in fact there seemed to be demons on their way in there too, which meant that whatever they see when they get in there was going to be the messy bit.

@floodtalon@Sho Minazuki
@Lazo@Lugubrious@kapuchu

Akoni grasped the orb of power tightly, feeling it burning his hands. This was amazing! Yet it felt more bothersome than it was worth, at least for the time being. It created such a dense field of magic that his own spells couldn't properly operate near the thing. Once he learned to use it, that wouldn't be a problem. Such a thing would take time, and study, neither of which he had. Not since the Hatred decided it was in fact not going to die as easily as it should, and actually received reinforcements. It seemed the demons outside the structure had either gained the upper hand in the battle, or threw all caution to the wind in a Hail Mary.

Worse still, the Hatred was glowing with the same power as the orb Akoni now clutched. Somehow, without ever getting close, it was connected to the thing. Siphoning power. This was unacceptable. The old wizard called upon all his knowledge of the arcane arts, utilizing his intuition, experience, and even falling back into the dark magics that had originally raised him. The air around distorted as though in a haze, fueled not by heat but by raw, and potent, magical energy. This haze molded into a single point of swirling mass, then blasted forth on Akoni's command, aimed right for the Hatred's metallic chest. The creature's were thin, but the center of mass should still be easy enough to strike.