Tales of Arcadia Vol 1

[purgatory]

Evil was a rather peculiar thing to consider, having frightening, if not maddening enemies gunning for your life. The quadriga was no different, as it floated aloft on its cloud its demonic aura was menacingly stagnant and seeped into the very air around them, caustic, toxic, it kept everything around it in check and alertness. A demon's most reliable tools were its own senses, no manner of deception could incapacitate them all. It became wary of the light, focusing some of its aura through its eyes and forming a peculiar tint that made it seem like a dull gray, but it burned all the same.

Collapse--an unexpected tactic, a flash as the light orb was used as an illuminating source this time around. The demon disbanded and became smoke for a few seconds before reforming in place. This wasn't planned, but at the same time a spear of light passed through it while it had disbanded, the very edge burning the back of its shirt just as it reformed. At this point it had lost itself in brief disorientation, its eyes did very well indeed become absorbed by parts of the flash. So it did what it had to do.

Two fingers jammed into its very skull, dislocating it eyeballs from its sockets and instantly growing new ones by cloning itself new ones. In its hands, its fist clasped shut, as the blood trail was absorbed into its own flesh along with the severed eyeballs. The blood from its eye sockets themselves trailed down its face and it grimaced at its own actions as being "troublesome". Blanca spat to the side, its senses were still operable and the cloud it stood on began to thin out and spread through the area, though not as dark or obscured from view "thick" as it was where the quadriga was floating.

It's sense of smell and its connectedness to the smoke gave it some visual and olfactory hint. Its level of experience didn't change its disposition as its eyes remained on the angel, it simply spoke in tongues as a means of communicating with Jet.

"Uke nustral de vakem Jet. Kaliz hu aural de person" (check your PM for the translation)

Blanca was emitting a powerful presence from itself now, it came here to be the diversion, it didn't expect Jet's help nor sense of amusement of being a spectator. It couldn't be helped, as bewildering as this Angel's behavior was, a job was a job for the demon. Truthfully, Blanca did not consider itself powerful, it's superior officers gave it this credit, but it, like all demons gained infamy through some manner of deception or another. The smoke was thick now, surrounding the area, and almost completely blotting out the presence as well as visage of Jet. Now it was only Blanca and the angel, he might as well fight it now. It seemed unlikely that the angel would not respond without caution, so Blanca ran a quick assessment through it head, before releasing itself from its charged state.

Jumping from the cloud of smoke it was sucked back into both of Blanca's arms, and those very arms burned a hot red and white as he burst forward like a jet. It approached the angel, scaling below it through a means of smoke dashing, from it back shot out three constructs of smoke similar in appearance to blanca itself. The constructs hovered around the angel in a triad or delta attack formation. Their arms were raised and surged red and white with a hot burst, released in the form burning substance, so if you were hit you felt matter hitting you as well as getting burned. Blanca who was on the bottom, its arms acted as propellers rather than contributing to the three attacks it escaped below, zipping downward to land on a rooftop.

As the constructs of smoke released their attacks, they exploded releasing a noxious and caustic smoke mix. With Blanca's own aura embedded within the smoke, it would know where the Angel would move.

 

[King Wolfe]

John

The hellhound charged him. John rolled and flipped the damned monster over him and it fell awkwardly behind him. He scrambled to his feet and brandished his angel blade. The hellhound was more like a rhino in terms of size, for some reason it was very light on its paws, then again given how wiry thin it was that wasn’t a surprised. John wondered what a hellhound’s diet consisted of.

As the raging monster opened its horrible mouth and tried to bite John in two, he figured it was probably him next if he didn’t focus. As John got closer and closer to Olympus Towers, the monsters changed from good ol’ fashioned demons to things out of the Greco-Roman myths. He had to dodge Cyclops, gorgons, Giants and emposa as he ran.

Apparently, it didn’t matter what stories the monsters came for, they all hated John equally. It was probably rare for a normal human to be universally hated by every hellish nightmare ever conceived. Then again, what can he expect when he’s killed and exorcised every monster that he came across?

It charged him again but John was ready. He rolled forward and to the left, the hellhound was too slow to respond and by the time he realized what was going on, John had sliced at his side. The gash glowed with a blue light and with an anguished cry, the hellhound melted into shadows.

John took a moment to catch his breath but only a moment. Quickly, he pocketed his weapon and jogged up to the door. Olympus Tower was one of the tallest buildings in Arcadia and if you know how to haggle the magic keycard from the doorman, you can use the elevator to access Olympus. John went there once, but that was when the Olympians were debating on smiting him on the spot, he wondered if they would remember him.
He touched the door and a spark of electricity zapped him. Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning flashed in the sky. Oh yeah, they remember him.

The door was locked, John cursed under his breath and considered kicking the door down but it was probably magically enchanted to like obliterate his leg if he tried. So, he got a better idea.

“Zeus!” he called to the sky. “I come to seek an audience with you!”

More thunder but otherwise no response.

John grimaced and undid his sleeve buttons while pulling them up, revealing wing tattoos on his forearms. “Fine! Then how about I summon your ass down here instead?”

He hated summoning spells. If you were decent you could do them with a few ingredients but if you don’t have time to set that stuff up, you could improvise by using the power of your soul. Think of the human soul as a miniature nuclear reactor to anyone who knows how to use it, you could harness and use it to power whatever you needed at a great cost to your body if you screw up.

Only the best could use an improvised spell that drained his soul without dying. Last time John tried, he slipped into a mini coma for a week. That wasn’t fun.

John focused on a spot in the pit of his stomach and imagined the person he was trying to summon. Zeus, Greek King of the Gods, fan of rainstorms and lightning bolts, bit of a horndog. He placed his forearms together parallel, knuckles pointing up, so that the tattoos formed a pair of wings. “Into the light, I command thee.”

It felt like gravity was conspiring to keep his arms from fully forming, but John kept them at place. Time and space felt like it was distorting around him and his body immediately decided to give up but he held his ground. “Into the light, I command thee!” he repeated.

A flash of light exploded above him and John was thrown into the ground as an armored woman appeared standing over him. She wore fancy Greek armor with a standard sword but her shield was horrifying to look at, it had the face of Medusa imprinted on it. Athena, the goddess of war, had answered his call, the last person he wanted.

Her steely gray eyes glared daggers into his own, as if she were trying to cause him to spontaneously combust from sheer willpower (which was probably possible). She was standing over John with her foot on his chest and her sword under his chin.

“Winters,” she hissed.

John grabbed her foot and tried to move it but it was like moving a mountain of steel off him. “Athena, always a pleasure. You still like being on top, I see.”

Athena pressed her sword into his neck a bit more. “Give me one reason not to smite you, John.”

“You aren’t the first person to suggest that today, Athena,” John reasoned.

“Why are you here? After the mess you created in Italy, I thought you would’ve learned your lessons and stayed away from Greek deities.”

“You were always my favorite,” John winked, trying hard not to cough. “I need some help.”

Athena rolled her eyes, but thankfully she moved the sword away from his throat.

“I need some weapons…”

“I’m not falling for that again, John,” Athena growled. “Not after you claimed to have found the Ark of the Covenant.”

“Jesus, Athena, I thought it was authentic.”

Athena stepped off John and helped him up. But no matter how friendly that gesture was, she was still glaring at him. “I’m not giving you anything, no matter what you’ve got to trade.”

“How about an angel’s blade?” John offered, brandishing the blade and showing it to Athena.

It was kinda amusing seeing a goddess’s eyes light up like a child in a candy shop. Athena was practically drooling over the angel’s blade, reasonable considering this is the first one she probably saw.

“I-is that the real deal?” Athena asked.

John pointed at the puddle of black ooze behind him. “Yeah, pretty sure.”

For a moment, Athena looked like she was going to take the deal. But then she retracted her hand and took a step back, John cursed mentally. “No deal,” Athena said. “It may be a relic, but I am no fool, John.”

“Not the impression I got last time we met…”

Athena’s eyes glowed and John thought she might smite him right then and there. “Leave, Winters. If you value your life, you will not return.”

She disappeared in a column of fire that nearly took John’s eyebrows off. “Showoff…”

John’s phone rang and he muttered a curse to cell phones as he looked at the number. Ah, a number he doesn’t recognize, this will be good. Flipping the phone open, John could barely keep the poison out of his voice as he listened.

" Hi. This is Claire Slevain. I'm Alyss Slevain's Niece. She told me to call you when the world stops making sense. "

His mind wandered to that familiar name. That is a history if there ever was one, Alyss saved his ass on more than one occasion and he returned the favor about a 100 times over. She was one of the few people who didn’t want to kill John, well except when he swiped her cigarettes.

John tried to remember someone named Claire but a blurred image of a young girl came to mind. It wasn’t that he didn’t try to remember her, he’d rather not commit someone to memory that he might end up holding in his arms, bloodied and dying.

“Oh yeah, I remember you,” he lied. “The little kid that made one hell of a cup of coffee. If you’re calling me, everything really is going to hell then.”

John brushed off his coat and glared at the dozens of demons that spawned in front of him. Pulling out his angel blade, John grimaced at the monsters. “So, what’s up, kid?”

Aiden

Aiden felt a bit silly. It was a weird feeling considering the friggin’ apocalypse just crashed down on Arcadia. But this feeling was a bit surreal. Aiden was a trained fighter after all and he had slain his fair share of demons, but this was outright war.

He’s never fought in a war before, he didn’t exactly have the military experience either. For Aiden all he saw was the enemy in front of him and that’s that, the bigger picture could wait. Aiden sensed Connor around here somewhere and was comforted by his presence. The man wasn’t a superhuman but you can’t count against him in a fight, that’d be a major mistake on your part.

The air around the Titan began to shift and in an instant Doa was transported in! Aiden wasn’t even aware that they managed to fix that nasty issue with the transport, good on them. The Titan spawned more tendrils by his feet which all attacked Aiden independently.

Utilizing his superspeed, Aiden dodged each tendril and countered instantaneously, slicing all of the tendrils off. By the time he looked back up, the Titan had one of its spines lodged in its chest and Doa yelled at him to hammer it in.

Aiden wanted to snark back with something funny like, “No.” But instead he began to run up the side of a skyscraper at impossible speeds and when he reached the Titan’s chest level he jumped off with amazing force. Flying toward the Titan, Aiden wondered if anyone was killed flying into a giant demon thing.

He held his katana like a baseball bat and slammed it into the spine, pushing it farther into the Titan with such force that it staggered backwards and roared indigently.

“Well, looks like you can feel pain--!” The Titan swiped at Aiden and sent him crashing into the office building to his right, destroying that entire floor. But it wasn’t done there, it reached into the building and tried to grab Aiden while he was dazed and confused.

But, quick on his feet, Aiden dodged and hopped on the Titan’s arm and ran alongside it. When he was out of the building, Aiden poured on the speed and sliced its arm, perfectly rendering it free from its body.

The Titan roared angrily and swiped at Aiden but he was already gone, reappearing beside Doa. Despite the situation he couldn’t help but grin a bit. “Tougher than I thought, takes a bit to have me cut seriously.”

“So, what’s up? Where’s Yuka?”

 

[Cassette-Disk]

"What? No." Jet answered simply to Blanca's question. "Weren't you listening?. I seriously think I've been struck by that absolutely rotten thing they talk about in all those songs. That whole 'it's strong and sudden' thing Huey Lewis said ages ago? It all makes sense to me now!" The Trickster turned in midair, crunching his brows in concentration. "I hope this doesn't interfere with my work at all." He ended, completely ignoring the enemy that stood not too far away from him, thereby confirming his previous sentence. Even so, it didn't take him long to realize the incredibly bright glow that was emitting from the angel. Turning around, Jet decided it would probably be best to not float so close to Blanca--or at least, not at that particular moment--and began strafing to the side just a bit. The ball of light that shot out from the angel was safely snuffed out for a split second, and the Trickster had thought his partner had something to do with it until it exploded into a blinding light.

"Oh for Lucifer's sake." He cried out as he tilted the card he was standing on in the angel's direction in order to provide himself with at least a small amount of protection from whatever follow up attack he would bring. Jet rubbed his eyes furiously to no avail, but nearby he heard the familiar squishy noises that he had associated with eyeball removals and placed two and two together. "Dude that's disgusting." Jet said mockingly, completely unaware of the light-bug that had been placed on his collar. His vision was slowly returning, but it was still difficult for him to make out his surroundings. Then he realized he didn't have surroundings because he was floating in midair.


"Uke nustral de vakem Jet. Kaliz hu aural de person"

"Do I?" Jet asked, squinting. "That succubus must have left her scent on me or something." Though he joked, he also realized that Blanca most likely had a point. He couldn't tell the difference, but if It had decided to bring it up just at that moment, then something must have changed between the few moments of blindness. At that moment, Blanca had decided to create a smoke screen before rushing at the angel. "Great." Jet responded. "First I get blinded by light, and now that I'm recovering from that I get blinded by darkness. I just can't win." He pulled out a green card and activated it as it glowed a dull green, trying his best to sway it to remove whatever aliments might have been placed on his body. What he got instead was a sharp cut across his shoulder as something whizzed by from above. He looked up at flinched. The card had, to his surprised horror, summoned a storm of swords to fall randomly around the immediate area.

"Guys." Jet said. "Guys!" Jet repeated as another sword raced dangerously close to his face. "I just can't win today."

 

[Piercing Light]

"What's up?" Doa looked to the muscular young man that stood by her side with a derisive grin. "Only you could be thrown through a building and still have the gall to act so copacetic, Aiden." She said, complementing him for his battle prowess in her own way. Seeing him in action riled her up; it made her want to show off a little. She looked back to the rampaging titan, which had lost all manner of sense after having it's arm sliced off. It was stomping it's feet at the moment, turning the streets beneath it into rubble. "Mayuka is still in the outskirts of the city. She is... cleaning up a mess, afterwards she will join us." Doa said, her eyes glued to the mad beast; it ripped out the spine from it's torso, leaving a gruesome wound. Her aura light up and fluctuated, covering her right hand and both of her legs. "But first, I am going to end this monster, I believe it has overstayed it's welcome." She began to walk forward, and then sprinted. The titan took notice of her, and decided to take out it's pain and frustration on her. The same tendrils that assaulted Aiden were sent her way. "Hmph." Doa simply swiped her hand, sending a wave of energy that vaporized the minor nuisances. She leaped upwards with full force, cracking the pavement below her as she soared. The titan responded quickly, sending a tightly balled fist her way. There was no way for Doa to dodge it in midair like this, at least not normally.

BANG

An explosion rippled the air, and the beast's hand did nothing but strike air. Doa had used the aura in her legs to propel herself upwards. She rotated her body and kicked the air, using the explosive energy from her aura as stepping stones. Her momentum increased quickly, to the point she became an azure blur. Extending her right hand like a blade, Doa spun like a living drill and pierced the titan's chest. She cleaved through it's body like a hot knife through butter, cutting through so cleanly that the only blood on her was the blood on her hand. Doa landed on the street; having to skid half a block to cancel out her momentum. The titan was dead before it even hit the ground; it's large body mass shattering windows and crushing abandoned cars as it landed. Walking back to Aiden, Doa picked up a stray newspaper and wiped the blood from her hand. "That takes care of that..." She placed a finger to her ear, where her earpiece was. "Connor, things are clear here, what's next?"

 

[nightmarezeroX9]

The sound of flesh being ripped out filled the air after Oriel's flash bang was definitely something no one every wanted to hear. Despite gruesome forms of killing being a familiarity to Oriel, he winced at the demon. He certainly wasn't expecting to witness something so... appalling. It's not everyday that Oriel goes out and expects things like this, so it would certainly leave a mark for a while. After that was all set and done, the two demons began to recover from their little daze. The demon that controlled the smoke spoke in a demonic tongue, foreign to Oriel. If he was planning something, he would surely have to keep an eye out for it. Luckily, his countermeasure was in place. For now, Oriel had to focus on one thing.

Before he knew it, the smoke demon had acted, causing a mass of dark smoke to surround the two in a sort of arena. In doing this, Oriel could not feel the presence of the other demon that had appeared, nor could he see him. The aura of the smoke demon intensified further, seemingly indicating that it was beginning to get serious. If Oriel wasn't careful, this could end up being very troublesome for him. Without warning, the demon leaped from the smoke, sucking it all back up into its arms. The glow emitting from both of his arms indicated that it was about to strike. Oriel moved his fingers on his right hand, around, ready for whatever came his way. The demon charged forward with the power of a jet. Readying himself to counter the charge, the demon suddenly shifted into smoke, dashing below Oriel. Turning around to keep his eye on his target, he saw three smoke constructs that had a striking resemblance to the demon shoot out from its back. The constructs surrounded Oriel, their arms also glowing red and white. Raising their arms, a substance shot out from each of them, directed at Oriel. Instead of hitting Oriel like intended, it slammed into what seemed like an invisible wall, sliding down to the ground below. Upon further inspection, a barrier of light was erected around Oriel from all directions, completely covering him. The barrier glistened in the light for a few more seconds, before vanishing.

Not completely out of the woods yet, the demon's constructs suddenly exploded, releasing what looked like a gas. The gas shot outwards from all directions. Not sticking around in the same spot to see what would befall him, Oriel quickly shot upwards, only to be greeted by something entirely bizarre. Swords had begun falling out of the sky, and for now, it seemed like it wasn't going to stop. Oriel took care to fly around and dodge as many of the swords he could, a few narrowly missing him. Deducing that this was the work of the second demon, he figured that this was somehow an unintended result of some spell, due to the fact that he could hear the demon freaking out about his own result. So far, he still didn't seem like he would be much of a threat. For now, a plan would have to be formulated. He could either use his ace in the hole and see if the smoke demon had any compassion for his companion, or continue fighting a battle that seemed to be going nowhere. Deciding to consider his actions, he landed on the ground, looking up towards the smoke demon, and erecting a barrier above. The clashing of the swords smacking against his barrier echoed throughout the area. For now, Oriel would wait and consider what options he had.

 

[ThePromise]

With the departure of Doa, this left Mayuka standing along amongst the corpses of the tainted fallen. Turning around to look over those that stood against all that was right in Elysium, the Ashford princess felt some form of honest pity for them. Never had she considered the conditions these demons had grown up in or the kind of indoctrination they were given, but they were not desperate when they came to her, only bloodthirsty and ruthless. No matter what, Mayuka had to believe that all those who fell here had chosen their fate a long time ago, and that pity was all they should receive. Clasping her hands together, she closed her eyes and gathered her focus. With deep calm breaths she could feel the trees surrounding her, the blades of grass beneath her feet, and heard the flowing water of the brook nearby better than before. It was now that she did not wield her powers in defense, but for regeneration, for mending, and for complete peace.

From her aura came the encouragement of growth in the surrounding area, and from her divine figure came a radiant glow of white that spread across the entire grove slowly yet steadily. The amount of energy emitted from her very being would be a happy familiarity to those that knew her closely, but for darker and much more cruel forces she would be a beacon of divinity too great to ignore and too significant to disregard. As Mayuka unleashed this holy force, the corpses of the fallen surrounding her had begun to catch flame. The blood that had spilled as a result of Doa’s force began to evaporate and burn apart within the air, cleansing each blade of grass at once. What was once blue, green, and all manner of colors was now a pure bathing white that ran across every inch of this place. In place of the corpses that slowly evaporated into nothing and the ashes that hovered within the air before fading there were new wild flowers in place of the imprints they had left. A personal apology to give this natural world for bringing a conflict to this place.

The process was no more than forty five seconds in length, and as Mayuka released her connection to her divinity so too did the pure white energy that bathed the area return everything to normal in the area. Opening her eyes once more, if one were standing before her they would see the last trace of glow from her eyes before they had returned to their standard color. Taking a few moments to look over the cleansing, she had expected to feel the familiar shivers of the satellite getting the bead on her. She waited, and waited, and waited, yet still nothing had come. This had gotten her curious given the urgency in Connor’s voice at the call he had paid Doa and herself. There was a period of time to reflect on the feeling of angelic beings descending from the skies, and for a moment Mayuka questioned if her mother was among them. The power she wielded was much more distinct than any she had ever felt, but that might have just been the bond they shared as mother and daughter.

‘Haven’t you noticed yet ..?’

Mayuka felt a jolt from the back of her mind, the impure part of herself didn’t commune with her often anymore because they were now together, rather than apart. So much was around her to notice, but what did she need to notice in particular? The area was dry of demonic presence, and the angels had descended upon Elysium to likely cause another mass of troubles for them, and it wasn’t like the demons hadn’t been causing enough-

It was then that it hit Mayuka; the presence of demon’s was completely eradicated from her senses, but she was almost certain that she was capable of feeling them even when her form had shifted. And as her senses took notice of the fact no demon’s presence could be felt, so too did her senses to the angels that descended from the heavens began to evaporate. Nothing. From outside this grove, the sense of everything outside of it began to evaporate, and her mind had begun to dull in time. The beauty that surrounded her began to grow darker, much more than her attunement to the natural world began to lose focus. Her strong stance had begun to shift, balance becoming the exact opposite of itself with her feelings fading fast. No longer could she smell, taste, or feel even the air she was basking in mere minutes ago. Slowly her eyes had begun to close, and she heard nothing more than the sound of her own body collapse against the soft ground of wildflowers surrounding her as a result of her divine encouragement of the nature she wielded with such tremendous respect. In a heap, flat on her back, Mayuka had passed out …

~-~

“Sir…”

Connor had been drawn to the combat Doa and Aiden had been engaged in with the Titan, Aiden taking a rough blow that would’ve been decisive and final to any human, even him, but emerging to quickly retaliate and join beside Doa. The prowess of these people had astounded him. For all the praise he received with his marksmanship whether it be bow, rifle, or pistol, he could hardly believe he operated on the same field as these people at times. Not letting his admiration cloud his awareness, his brown eyes relocated from the large monitors before him and looked to one of the several at monitors.

“Report.”

“The Ashford girl, she’s disappeared.”

Connor’s eyes narrowed in utter confusion at that statement, then turned to look back at the monitor. That was the personnel’s cue to place the grove on the main screen, which was Mayuka’s last known coordinate. It had been at least a minute and a half for this system to cool down, leaving his estimations to be incorrect at times. Anywhere from thirty seconds to a two minute time period were the norm for this technology, and considering they were operating without influence from their original maker, they were doing well for themselves. The art of mass transportation from one part of the world to another was not easy technology to create, even for Arcadia’s standards.

Sure enough, when the screen narrowed to the grove, the original image they held of Mayuka was distorted to the point it was impossible to see within that section of the outskirts. The grove was certainly still there, yet the technological eye was not capable of getting close any longer.

“Sir, should we get someone to inform her brother?”

“No point, if it’s not our technology and she really is gone, then he’ll already know by now.” Connor muttered, stepping away from the monitors and moving to his desk at the far back of the operations room. Atop the desk rested a large black case, and upon unlocking it with his handprint. Getting a silent acknowledgment that the proper owner was opening this case, it had released its locks, allowing Conner to open it and unveil a specially-crafted bow with a full quiver with arrows designated for both kills and utility to be drawn.

Naturally, some of his personnel had seen this, and looked back to him momentarily.

“Get me as close as you can. This is mine.”


~-~
Light had returned to her mind, and so Mayuka’s eyes had parted, consciousness returning to her being. The last she remembered she had collapsed within a grove of beauty and peace, yet now her environment was replaced by burning metal and miles upon miles of rubble, and she was standing. The sky was red and orange, and the clouds above seemed to be in a standstill. There was no wind, no sound, no life, and no presence here whatsoever that she could immediately detect. It was a world without ambiance, and Mayuka had known it well. In her youth she had dreamed about this place, fearing who she was to the point of considering the thought of running a clean steel blade across her wrist to spare her this future, or the future of anyone else. This was the ruin she had generated in her nightmares, but she hadn’t visited this place in ages, her life in so much order and prosperity that her depression had all but evaporated thanks to her friends, family, and more importantly her own inner strength being found when things looked so bleak.

Nothing was here but dust and echoes..

~-~

“..Stall them..” A voice like nails dragged across a chalkboard infiltrated the mind of one of the Cult of Lucifer’s units, Vexil. He was on standby in this conflict until receiving an order in particular, but the master seemed to want to bear witness to the strength and will of this child of heaven. Behind Mayuka rested a figure coated in maroon rags and shadow so dark even the greatest of eyes couldn’t peer through the veil that masked its face. Among the ruins and dust of this place, it began to hover inches off the ground and move towards his target without her awareness at an eerily silent pace.

All light faded eventually, now hers was at risk.

 

[Piercing Light]

The air was muggy; stifling, like a room that's been sealed for a decade. The floor was cold stone, and was littered with round tables and creaky chairs. The only source of non-oppressive light came from the front door; which had the decency of letting at least a modicum of light in through a small window. At the front of this establishment was a bar, the bar was lined with stools in front of it and a multitude of alcoholic beverages in the back. Sitting upon one of these stools was a young looking man adorned in a rather unfitting attire. Leather jackets covered in showy metal studs were the most one would expect in a place like this, so he stood out dressed in a black cloak.

The young man had a glass in his hand, and he was taking his time drinking from it. The front door opened, bathing the shady bar in excess light momentarily before it closed behind the man that walked in. The older man that walked in was the epitome of a business like individual. His hair was trim and proper, combed back to be as orderly as he was himself. His hair, along with his short beard, bared touches of grey that only served to enhance one's perception of a serious man. The suited man straitened his red tie, which upon closer inspection matched the crimson color of his eyes. He sat down next to the robed young man, interlocking his fingers and placing his elbows on the bar.

"Vexil." He greeted the robed young man.
"Hello, Father." Vexil said back, keeping his eyes on his drink. "So, why are you here? Surely an important man such as yourself has better things to do than mingle with low rank officers." He said, his voice hanging on the edge between sarcasm and spite.

"I came to make sure you understand your situation. Do you?" The man asked. Vexil remained quiet for a moment, swirling the water in his hand nonchalantly.

"You know I do, you want to know if I care enough to follow through as you want, right? Don't worry, I won't be embarrassing you any further, father." He said. His father let out a matter of fact sigh.

"So you understand what is on the line, don't disappoint him. You know how he punishes failure." His father stood up and tightened his tie once more. Right then, a loud crash shook the entire bar. Dust fell from the bar's shoddy ceiling, and landed on the suited man's shoulder. "You would do well to be ready." He said, brushing off the filth from his shoulder. His father exited the bar, leaving Vexil alone with the lone, silent bartender. This was likely the only place still open in this city, which made sense, considering that it was run by demons in hiding.

As if on cue a noise pervaded his mind. It was a familiar noise that he knew he would never get used to. He was accustomed to telepathy, yet this noise always sent a rod of ice down his spine. "Speak of the devil..." Vexil groaned, standing to his feet. The Pale One had just given him an order, an order that was as absolute as the rising of the sun.

~~~~​

"Connor?... Hello?..." Doa continued to try and contact Connor, but all she could hear was distorted, far away voices and static. "...Great." Doa lowered her finger from her ear and turned to Aiden. "I can't reach Connor, do you sense anything odd?" She asked, as she was unable to sense abnormalities herself.

"Having trouble reaching your boss? I know how you feel." Someone spoke from behind Doa, she turned around to see Vexil standing before her. Her eyes narrowed.

"Who are you?" She asked, implying a threat of violence with a harsh tone.

"I'm a demon." Vexil stated calmly. "And I've been told to keep you two here for the time being. Now, as I see it we don't really have to fight ri-" Vexil was cut off as Doa charged towards him. "Or not!" He yelled as he just barely dodged a glowing fist aimed for his head. The sound of clanging metal alerted Doa, as she realized her arm had suddenly been wrapped in a long length of chain coming from Vexil's left sleeve.

"Where?" Doa cringed. The chains were tight, but she knew she could break them off if she just.

"Hold that thought." Vexil poured a current of electricity into the chains, causing Doa's muscles to quake. She was unable to move for a moment, and in that moment he gripped the chain, and tossed her towards Aiden. "Now see, I was fine with simply having a nice chat..."

 

[purgatory]

There was little privy to Jet's "misplaced responsibility" conjuring forward a pesky nuisance to attend to. The Angel's evasive and self-protecting nature lead it to react quickly, Blanca used less tact and simply phased through the blades using the two second dispersal to slip through Jet's unmistakably fine steel. The scent of his aura pouring through each as defined by his unique gambling presets were in a way, his signature. This would be a brief shower, and Blanca was an opportunist among other demon's, as it navigated through the rainfall of sword, creeping closer to the angel. Suddenly--SCHWING!

Entering through it's back, shattering bone and breaking the sternum completely it busted through. The sword's blade was broad, thick, and drenched in the quadriga's blood. It's eyes dilated in shock and shrank instantly as life quickly evaporated. It's mouth discarding both ash and blood in a surging cough splattering miserably from it's mouth. The demon suffocated with an uncontrollable cough and hard respiratory breathes in between. It bit down clasping its teeth and pulled all of its aura inward converting itself into an personal demonic "fire bomb". Sucking the smoke inward and and dispersing it outward into a ring which easily controlled the range of the attack.

This was the current situation, described almost as if time had frozen. There were two demons and an angel, the angel and smoke demon were close, roughly no more than a ten meter distance between each other. Angel in question had erected a barrier as a means to guard itself from the blade case over the area. The impaled demon began fall towards it, being impaled just before it was erected, in due course changing its composition to match that of a bomb, at its disposal using one of its four hearts unknown to it's enemy. The smoke creating the explosion radius had been compressed just enough to cover the angel and the quadriga alone, and being contained inside its barrier would do well to prevent it from causing considerable amount of damage to the area with the exception of the barrier's perimeter.

'You've played into my hands you fool.'

Its burning afflictions became a self-immolation as it's own skull ignited in fire and expanded outward into a super-hot and compressed string of fire and smoke quickly occupying the space around just those two. From the spot the quadriga sacrificed one of its four hearts, if you looked hard enough from a distance you could see a single organ pumping out fire and smoke before being reduced to ash.

 

[Hazen Gregory]

"Amazing. There's simply no other word to be used for describing the ferocity I witnessed in that last attack," From upon a tall building, silhouette had been perched for quite a lengthy period of time. Originally the figure had only been atop the building to do some meditating, it was obvious that nobody would come to the rooftop perch to disturb the man even though nearby disturbances fully were able to affect the figure's attention. This time around only a few hours worth of time had passed, though they felt like minutes or even seconds to the silhouette. Being of the netherkind had exposed this entity to locations where time meant virtually nothing. Daylight and Nightfall meant little to the netherkind atop the skyscraper, an intense battle however, meant everything.

The woman below had taken down the titan sized demon with a decisive and powerful maneuver, one which had been fueled by an extended amount of force by the woman. Demons of that size and strength weren't anything new to the onlooker, yet for a being such as the woman Doa the amount of force within her aura could easily have been considered a phenomena in itself. "I should go congratulate her for such a splendid victory." Before allowing himself to come down from atop the building, the figure rapidly scanned the area to see if there were any other forces at bay which might begin to cause problems in the near future. "Hmm. Nothing." The figure came further out from the shadow of the building, purposefully walking toward the edge of the rooftop and then stepped off.

A mess of spiky blond hair blew wildly about as the figure, now no longer a silhouette plummeted toward the ground. "Oh my...what's this?? It seems that things still might have the chance to get a lot more interesting than I thought they might." A demon in the guise of a man now stood behind Doa. The situation changed rapidly, Doa near immediately attacking the demon as he spoke. Some form of chained weapon bound Doa's arm and shortly after she was shocked using a current of electricity that was visible along the length of the chain. The chains weren't directly physical in nature, a being like the netherkind could see the chains were ethereal in nature, a substance that was rare for demons to manipulate.

"Oh my, she surely let her guard down much to quickly." As Doa was tossed sideways toward Aiden, a voice sounded inside of Doa's mind, laughing at her. 'You'd be wise to pay more attention to every piece of your surroundings sweetheart.' The voice cut off just as Doa would have crashed into Aiden as her body righted itself and a thin aura of a gassy pink substance that trailed away from the woman's body, disappearing and then quickly reappearing several feet from Doa in a humanoid shape that began to fill out into the complete shape of a man.

It literally only took another second for the gas outline to finish forming, revealing a dark skinned man covered in a downing of soft golden fur. The man was dressed in an attire one might find a person wearing in they were in ancient Egypt or some other land that was far off and full of exotic humans or other creatures. "Heyy beautiful, shouldn't this guy right here be defending you?? Or maybe you should be displaying the same fervor from that fight with the titan demon eh??" A slight grin formed from the edges of the chocolate man's mouth but his pink eyes showed an ever larger smile. "Hahaha, I'm just playing with you guys. Seriously though, I've been itching for a fight with a demon like this guy here."

Up above the demon, Vexil a miasma of pink mist was already forming, only visible to those whom might be endowed with some form of magical or supernatural ability. "Tell me demon, is there a good reason for you randomly showing up here, or have you come just because of an order you received?? Regardless of your intentions I'm going to be nosy and cause you problems just because I can." Though the question didn't necessarily need to be answered by Vexil, the blond haired man smiled and turned back to Doa, winking at her before saying, "Honestly I shouldn't even get involved but I have nothing better to do right now. I hope you don't mind my company."

With each word that was spoken by the netherkind, the large outline that had been above Vexil moved and gained a more solid form until the outline itself shattered like glass. Such an event was odd enough, the noise of breaking glass could be heard for several city blocks even without a physical substance falling to the ground or actually spreading the sound waves at all. In place of what had been an outline now levitated a large creature that might have been familiar to Doa or even Aiden. It all depended on their knowledge of various ideas.

"Wailord...what took you so long to appear to me?? Were you too busy with another task elsewhere??"

The whale monster made a snorting noise, "No actually I was vacationing. Who the hell are these people??"

 

[King Wolfe]

Aiden

Aiden didn’t register anything Doa said. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her or anything, they were on friendlier terms than her and Dante (he and Lupa had spent thirty minutes coming up with puns for her name) but his mind was occupied at the moment. Now some may accuse Aiden of being all brawn and no brains but he wasn’t exactly an idiot.

Sure, he couldn’t make a chicken risotto without breaking down and flashing back to his horrible memories of being taught how to cook by a particularly short blonde Italian, but he was far from dumb. It was probable due to his reckless nature. Aiden had a preference of punching down the problem rather than use logic, it was easier his way sometimes.

Nothing had particularly changed from first glance. Arcadia was still in the midst of a demonic war but otherwise everything remained the same. But Aiden knew. There was like a literal hole in his heart, some shining beacon lost, faded from the world as if it never existed. Aiden couldn’t even explain this feeling but he knew what caused it.

Mayuka.

It was like she became a ghost, just some specter that was only alive in his memories. Aiden’s heart dropped and he swallowed a lump in his throat. This is where the idea that he wouldn’t make a very good leader, Aiden was more hotheaded than he cared to admit. Very much nothing like the Holmes girl he knew and loved.

Vexil appeared and Aiden mentally cursed himself for not noticing him fast enough. Doa and him exchanged a few words but once again, Aiden barely registered them. His mind ran through the number of scenarios that could’ve happened to his beloved sister, none of them were good. For a minute he tried to rationalize the situation, someone as powerful as his sister wouldn’t have been overpowered so easily. There were only like a few people that could deal with her at full strength, and that number barely reached into double-digits.

Aiden blinked and Doa was already charging, his type of action plan, but he dodged and ensnared Doa. Aiden’s fear grew into blind fury and anger. Who in all of the worlds had the gall to try something on his sister? Aiden’s eyes became blood red, his hair pitch-black and the aura that now surrounded him became darker and denser.

His anger condensed into a powerful aura that warped the street around him, making it seem like the concrete had the texture of water. In this dark form, Aiden lost all distinction between friend and foe, thankfully, Doa didn’t crash into him as Vexil intended.

Aiden disappeared from sight and charged Vexil, his hand on his sword he already slashed the area around him by the time he actually reached Vexil. His sword slices were wild and uncontrolled, not aimed at anyone in particular but headed toward the new stranger and Vexil. There must’ve been a sense of conscious in the now rampaging Aiden as his strikes were not directed at Doa at all.

One large sword slash was aimed at Vexil instinctively as Aiden approached him… and passed him. By the time he was behind Vexil, his hand left his sword’s hilt and he focused all of his energy on his legs and sprinted off away from the city and toward the last known location of his beloved sister, Mayuka.

 

[ThePromise]

As vast and blank as the surroundings were, the seconds going by made Mayuka more and more wary to what had led up to this. A cleansing of demon blood that threatened to corrupt an otherwise peaceful grove untapped by mankind, utilizing a power she had not been new to in order to do it without greater manpower, and suddenly losing connection to her brother. It wasn’t just him, but the angels she had detected just after the appearance of the Titan had faded as well, and then absolutely nothing. Blank. Compared to the men and women working around the clock at Section III, she had certainly not done anything that forced her to suddenly lose consciousness. Thoughts even in this dead silent space that she could only consider some sort of dream began to grow hazy as well, her own mind and senses getting just as clouded. Mayuka could count each individual second as time had gone by, and with each second her thoughts grew a little bit slower, and her body a little more tired once more. Placing a hand to the left side of her head, she had been made aware of a threat to her inner peace instantaneously after the action.

Spinning around, she took aim with her right hand palm directly behind her and with full intention of defending herself unleashed a powerful blast of wind. The mana exuded wasn't intentionally destructive, but it had done well to sufficiently blow all debris just behind her quite a distance. The silence of this space was broken, yet when the dust clear no evidence of the disturbance she had just sensed was present. This area behind her was perfectly clear, and the haze in her mind seemed to clear up just slightly, enough for her to lower her hand from her head. Her senses were honed to the point she should have felt something much faster. It could not have been any stranger to her, but in this pause she was starting to feel her aura remain close to her, the mana not straying too far from her being.

Was this...unconscious fear?

Was she really alone in this place?

~-~

Well beyond several feet above the young woman, the maroon-dressed apparition hung stationary with the attention once fully upon his objective in a sudden halt. The air within the borders of that cursed city changed in an instant, shifting noticeably enough for his strategy to cease for a moment. The eyes of this apparition hung over, in, and surrounding the city with intent of keeping the ultimate goal of this attack within sight. In the space of his creation, the fallen and faded Titan, was the ‘Other’ option. Brother of the primary objective, holder of the unique genetics they sought, had stirred within him a power this One made a goal to understand as much as possible. There would be no pause to admire the awakening of the sleeping giant, for his speed and sensory ability as well as the protective need to ensure his sibling was safe jeopardized all that this assault was built for. It was no fault of the subordinate Vexil that he dared lose sight of this swordsman.

Within the mind of Jet, the One’s intrusion of his free thought would send an agonizing chill up his spine and directly to his brain. Cold, absolute orders infiltrated the very depths of his mind to a point ignoring them would be plain insanity and threat of death.

“The brother moves …delay him …or it is all for naught.” The One’s voice uttered, taking momentarily visual control over Jet’s right eye and bestowing on him the vision of one of his many personal subordinates; the wraiths. An airborne visual of the brother in question was captured in real-time, and with the speed some meddlesome powers-that-be bestowed upon him, the worst case scenario was that he would be within this grove in a minutes time or much, much less. Freeing Jet’s right eye, the One’s voice carried itself to Blanca, who had been preoccupying himself with an angel for some time now. “You’re reassigned, gathering attention is no longer necessary. Assist Vexil...keep all preoccupied. Now.”

Though Blanca had a tendency to discard various parts of his body when necessary, Blanca could not have gone blind to the appearance of what a humorous being may call a sort of ‘fish out of water’. If this young woman’s detection skills weren’t so skilled, the One may have let loose a low groan of his own at such a tasteless observation. Still, for all the resources, it appeared that their numbers weren’t doing nearly enough to hold the attention within the city as they were intended. Beginning to see now that this measure of attack was not yet enough.

Nothing mattered. Not the 'Doa' girl, not the meddlesome angels, and not even further appearances from those not on the radar of the Cult . There was only the girl, her brother, and the steep price of failure.

This One would not tolerate it.

Within the mind of another, the proper order was given.

“The time is now. Proceed.”

 

[Lumine]

Claire was remembered by others in lots of ways like the geek who always got As in maths in their class, that really good hunter who took out 3 giants one night, the serious one, the awfully quiet girl in their group, Miss No-boyfriends but getting remembered for making a good cup of coffee? That was a first.

“So, what’s up, kid?”

"Demons, John" Claire said, her walk slowing down as the pace of her thoughts hastened, "And I mean all of them. All of the Legions have gone haywire, attacking every hunter they can get to. Not a random kill as well, no, they're looking among us for candidates of some sort. They are choosing.." She had stopped walking altogether, her eyes narrowed on a thought in the distance her mind was trying hard to grasp.

"It's just... so out of pattern."

That's not like them. Banding together like that, Claire's mind had suddenly gone in a whirlwind of its own, Not unless...

"Someone is hording them all together for something"

Someone strong enough to lead them, to bring them all together., and the thought of someone like that was dangerous. They needed to be moving fast. But for what are they gathering? what kind of plan requires them to be hunting for candidates?

"We need to talk more." Claire urged.

They had agreed to meet at a house near the outskirts of the City. Some place relatively safe to discuss what is going on. Claire didn't really remember John. Alyss had a lot of acquaintances as a hunter, lots of sources. She knew some of them, but John Winters didn't really cross her mind other than a couple of memories when her Aunt mentioned him when they used to work together. Her Aunt did however seem to have respect for the man, even if she warned her from contacting him. She wondered what could he possible be doing to earn Alyss's Caution that much.

She was on her way to the agreed upon house when a feeling overcame her. Slow, dark and vivid. As if a black shadow has cast itself upon her eyes, snuffing out every light her translucent grays can see, stealing away every beautiful thought or sight out of her reach. The image of the first thing dear to her heart breaking, twisting horribly, every dear person, their existence crushed to dreary hopelessness. Its like all the warmth left her, or was never there to begin with, nothing but a sad distant nostalgia. She felt the cold crawling her skin, like a frigid snake tightening its coil around her limbs, freezing her in place. Sending awful quivers of chill right to her very soul. She felt the light go out of her eyes, forced into blindness, dark helplessness. Her voice caged, stifled and suffocated in her throat before she could even form a breath. Heavy. The air all felt heavy, so heavy. It weighed on her shoulder, as if the very sky was pressing down its whole weight alone on her. She couldn't move. She was alone. No one would help. No one can reach her. Not here. It is hopeless.

she tried to turn around and then she saw them. Two eyes peering at her. Red. Such an intense, horrible red. Like all the evil of the world were behind them. It wasn't looking at her. It was looking at her soul. Past all the haze, it saw the truth. A Face in the blindness of her eyes. It looked and it knew everything. And it was going to destroy her. It knew how to destroy her, and she knew it can do it. And she was terrified like she has never been before. And the face smiled knowingly, like a beast feeding off the fear of its prey. She was the prey. Sweat beaded in the palms of her hands, her heart was frantic, drumming so hard in her head, she felt it will break through her chest. Its beating so quick, so loud that anyone might hear it. She won't be a prey, not like this. Never. Stop. This needs to Stop!

But then a voice in the very recess of her mind whispered smoothly, softly and painfully like nails scratching slowly upon a board.
Don't be so sure...

When she blinked again, it was all gone. The sun was still up. The world still made no sense, her hand was clamped on her head as if she was trying to hold a thought in, holding it from escaping. She was still standing in the middle of the street, people passing her by. She stifled a gasp, calming herself down. Getting back to her senses. She just had one of those 'episodes' again. They often came in short bursts, but lately, they have been increasing. As if they had stopped time for her, and transported her consciousness somewhere else. They were often too surreal and vivid, each single time. But this one, this time it was too strong. That thing, that person, whoever that was. That was...beyond Bad. Something none of them had ever prepared for. And it was upon them.

So soon.

~*~​

The House was a newly renovated unit in a number of houses that were planned to be open for sale soon. It wasn't entirely large, but the inside was spacious and very convenient for the use of a small family. This brought back the fresh memory of her destroyed house 2 days ago. Thanks to one of the demon's raids, half of the second floor was utterly demolished. She hadn't been able to return there since then because it would have been too obvious for them to track her there.

It was all empty inside, the dark wooden floor boards were newly polished and squeaky clean. The Windows were covered by soft white curtains that cast a dull gray light inside the house. It was so quiet inside, but Claire had the feeling that John Winters was already in there. She climbed to the second floor, and right there at the end of the hall a man in a black suit and unruly ink black hair stood with his back to her, smoking

 

[King Wolfe]

John hated smoking. He picked up the nasty little habit when he was 13 years old after he had accidentally summoned a demon that went on a rampage that he only barely survived. It was a bad habit but it helped him deal with the stress that came with his job. When he was 17 he quit after he got Death to cure his impending lung cancer and tried his best not to pick up the habit again.

He stood in the lonely little house with a solemn expression. John managed to escape Olympus Tower intact with a minor teleportation spell, but that did very little to calm his nerves. So, on his way here he picked up nicotine free cigarettes to indulge in his little stress reliever.

Claire and John had agreed to meet here, something John was regretting the minute he said yes. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Claire, it was that in this very dangerous situation it might’ve been crazy to involve a kid. Normally, he wouldn’t have considered bringing her into this, but John was grasping at the straws. After his little fiasco with Athena, John realized his lineup of superpowered beings were wearing thin.

For one reason or another, the gods weren’t getting involved into this conflict. Not just the Greeks, but the Asgardians, the Japanese gods, even the native Arcadian pantheon. They were all in the dark, John wasn’t sure if they were hiding or dead. But judging on Athena, the former is looking more likely.

John supposed that it would’ve been easier if they hid from this apocalypse in hopes to survive. That made him nervous. As much as he hated gods they were incredibly arrogant and the one thing they wouldn’t do is pass up a good war.

John felt his coat, grateful for the familiar weight of his stolen weapon. That was the only god-weapon he had his hands on at the moment, there were hundreds of them but they were destroyed or buried over the centuries.

But it was one toothpick against millions of demons and their God.

The floorboards creaked downstairs and John barely reacted, only opting to pull out a pair of old glasses he swiped from mage a month ago. Pulling out a tiny silver flask, he poured the liquid over the lens and muttered a Haitian spell before putting them on and taking another drag from his god-awful cigarette.
He heard Claire approach from behind. John stomped out his cigarette and turned around.

She was taller than he remembered, then again his memory was a bit hazy. Pretty, sure, but so young. She should’ve been in some sort of college now, not hunting demons and dodging monsters. John was half-tempted to call this off and send her away.

Adjusting his glasses, he peered at Claire carefully but through the magically enchanted glasses… Claire appeared perfectly normal.

“Good, not a demon,” he said finally, taking off the glasses and pocketing them. “A lot easier than dumping holy water on you. Come on, this way.”

He led Claire into one of the rooms, like the rest of the house it was abandoned and raided through. In the center of the room sat a large round table with a pentagram drawn with chalk and a slew of bad-smelling ingredients grounded up in the center.

“You’re right,” John said. “The demon attacks aren’t random, they’re targeting something or someone. I don’t have much recon on the situation but I can remedy that quickly.”

He gestured toward the table. “Basic summoning spell. Last angel I summoned, I managed to swipe this”—he showed her the weapon – “From him, but he was pretty useless otherwise. This time around, we’re going higher on the food chain. Cherubs or archangels, whatever, but we need some solid information.”

John lit a match and held it up. “We need to work fast, care to do the honors?”

Mio

Mio nearly scorched New Harmony when she crash landed. She got up, armor still superheated from the reentry, with scars and cuts marking her beautiful angelic body. Proof of her participation in this bitter war.

Instinctively, Mio raised her shield and turned just as the blast connected, nearly throwing her off her feet. Mio pointed her sword blindly and fired off a magical bolt, hoping to strike the drakon that she was fighting. Thankfully, the drakon was about the size of a rocket ship so it wasn’t hard to hit it. The mighty drakon roared indignantly as her magic struck it and it swiped down to take Mio’s head but she was much faster.

In the blink of an eye Mio disappeared and reappeared right behind the drakon, her sword now covered in its blood as its head fell right off. That was the 50th monster attack she encountered today and the stress was beginning to wear on her. Mio had to jump around the entirety of Elysium to protect it from the monsters and demons, sure the demonic forces were concentrated on Arcadia but the rest of the world was still in danger.

Weakly, Mio stood to her full height and grimaced. She no longer resembled the beautiful maiden angel that she was, she was now a battle-hardened, world-weary warrior. Her long black hair was disheveled and practically ruined, her armor was scorched, scarred and corroded, and finally all over her perfect pale skin were scars and cuts from each battle.

As an angel she was more than capable of healing herself, but the magic was beginning to exhaust her and nowadays she barely has time for a quick heal. Mio’s head tingled and she focused on the sensation as subsonic waves started to buzz in her mind. “Angel Radio” as Aiden once coined it, it was like a psychic connection angels had with each other, it’s very convenient but nowadays only warned her of yet another attack.

Mio grimaced as she realized who was making this call. She disappeared from the battle-scarred field without a whisper.

She reappeared amongst her garrison (now growing in numbers due to the recent demon incursion) hundreds upon hundreds of angels all scrambling to find order in this chaos. Mio felt a little overwhelmed at the sight of all of the angels under her command, she was still relatively young for an angel and here she was leading an entire garrison and crushing any angelic opposition.

The natural-born angels felt that someone like Mio wasn’t suited for leading and some of them retaliated violently against her command. She was forced to take action, but she tried for diplomacy, begging them that angels shouldn’t be fighting against each other but they were stubborn. She hated politics.

Every angel here looked just as battle-worn as Mio, they probably just got out of a massive fight themselves. For a place called Heaven, this looked like a nightmare.

Naomi, her lieutenant, approached her. She was a shorter woman with long brown hair hastily done in a bun. Like Mio she was wearing her armor but it looked like it had better days.

“Ma’am, no word from Oriel. Arcadia is still in the dark,” Naomi reported.

Aiden and Mayuka popped into her mind and Mio fought to hide her emotions. She knew they were more than capable enough to handle themselves, but this is the longest Arcadia has remained shadowed. Her vision was blocked from the whole city.

Mio swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m going down there,” she told Naomi.

“Balthazar has returned, ma’am!” Naomi announced, stopping Mio’s teleportation.

Mio turned around and couldn’t help but glare at Naomi. The poor girl took a step back in fear. “And? What news does he bring?”

“I was banished,” answered Balthazar, approaching Mio from the left. Unlike the other angels, he was content with his formal dresswear, he was hardly a soldier Mio wanted. “Damned trickster got me.”

“A god?” Mio asked.

Balthazar shook his head. “Worse. A human. John Winters.”

Mio bit her lip. She knew of John, a professional exorcist who dabbled in conning anything in his path, humans, demons, angels, gods, whatever. She met him once, a very long time ago, when he was young. She approached Balthazar with venom in her eyes.

“What did he do?” she asked.

“Nothing—“

Mio grabbed his coat indignantly and felt his inside pockets… it was decidedly empty. “He stole your weapon?”

“Captain,” Balthazar tried. “He tricked me, it won’t happen again.”

“You know how John Winters operates, Balthazar. He is a notorious trickster who duped Loki once, what makes you think you would’ve fared better?” Mio asked.
Balthazar glanced at his shoes and frowned. It wasn’t every day you’d see the sweet angel Mio behave in this manner, but she had a point. “I will pursue him, Captain. And I will—“

“You’ll what?” she asked. “Smite him? We are the shepherds, charged with guarding humans, Balthazar. You will not pursue him to engage in some petty feud. You will head to the frontlines and assist Delta Team.”

Balthazar appeared as though he wanted to protest, but kept his comments to himself. Instead he bowed and disappeared from sight. Mio wanted to sigh and take a nap for about three days but she turned toward Naomi and asked, “Any word from the archangels yet?”

Naomi shook her head solemnly. “Gabriel is still MIA, Raphael is a lost cause and Michael… He is searching for a vessel.”

Mio nodded. Most angels needed human vessels in order to exist on the human plane but some were clever and manifested fake bodies in order to operate. The most powerful angels, archangels, could only use human vessels, no exceptions. Raphael acquired one centuries ago and has been comfortable in it for a while. Michael, the eldest angel, the First One, still didn’t have a vessel, there wasn’t any strong enough for him. He was the only angel that could outright kill Lucifer if he ever acquired a vessel.

“I hear…” Naomi said, hesitantly. “I hear he is considering your middle son, Aiden.”

Mio’s heart dropped and her willpower crumbled, an expression mixed with fury and fear made its way to Mio’s face. Michael could not get to Aiden, she would never allow it. She knew the worst case scenario, Lucifer and Michael would acquire their respective vessels, engage in their fight and scorch half the world as a result, burning up their vessels in the end once Michael wins.

Thing is, Mio and every other angel in the world already know that Michael would kill Lucifer. He’s destined to win. But if winning results in half the world being destroyed and Aiden being killed, then Mio wouldn’t have it.

“That isn’t happening,” Mio answered.

“But, you can’t fight an archangel, ma’am. You'll be killed!” Naomi argued.

“If I have to protect them, then I will.”

Mio walked off toward the end of the cloud and looked down to the city of Arcadia. “I need to get down there,” Mio said.

“But Captain,” Naomi started. “What about here?”

“I won’t be gone long…” Mio muttered. “Just stay safe, and tell my assistant—“

Mio disappeared in a puff of red smoke mid-sentence, startling Naomi. The stench of burned oakwood and the ashes of the dead filled the air. It was a summoning spell.

Miles away from Arcadia square, in a nondescript house, Mio appeared in a puff of smoke. She stood in the middle of a flaming circle with two people staring at her. She recognized the male, John Winters. He held up an angel’s blade that Mio recognized, it was Balthazar’s.

“John Winters,” Mio growled with barely masked irritation. “So nice to see you…”

Aiden

Aiden’s eyes widened as the sound of a girl screaming pierced his rage-filled mind. He stopped in his tracks and focused, his hair and eyes returned to normal as his anger left. The noise was faint but he could just barely make it out as a young girl screaming and begging for help.

Aiden gripped his sword and grimaced. There was no one around and communications were down… what the hell was he supposed to do? Mayuka was still out there, God knows where but at the same time..

She was a big girl (well, not to Aiden, she would always be a kid to him) she could handle herself, whoever was in danger couldn’t. Aiden tilted his head in annoyed agreement, he hated when he started to make sense to himself. Then again, it could just be some elaborate ploy to distract him.

Aiden ran a hand through his hair and growled under his breath, “Either way, I have to check it out.”

He sprinted off in the direction of the noise, completely opposite of where Mayuka could’ve been.

Solomon was a terror when he was a mortal. He was a well accomplished necromancer and a horrid serial killer, going through hundreds of innocent souls to enhance his own powers and achieve immortality. It is said that he consumed 200 souls in order to become God. The consumption of these souls did improve his powers but he was eventually killed by the archangel Raphael.

His soul was so twisted and horrible that it instantly became a demon when he died. As a demon he wasn’t any better, venturing to work his way up the demonic hierarchy and trying to overthrow the leaders of Hell. This obviously failed and he was sentenced to punishment to bathe in the damned souls he consumed.

With this recent demonic incursion and millions of demons crawling out of hell to get a piece of the action, Solomon was released from his punishment and sent to the frontlines to command his own unit. The first day he left, he overran the Hunters base and obliterated them.

It is said within the demon ranks that he was handpicked by Lucifer himself to undergo this special assignment. Solomon the Butcher closed in on Lucy, the poor young girl who was merely spectating the fight Aiden and Doa engaged in with the Titan and left recently once that weirdo perv showed up.

She tried to follow Aiden but he was impossible to catch, she heard that he beat Hermes at a foot race once.

Halfway through she was jumped by Solomon who threatened to skin her and pull her soul apart bit by bit.

Lucy held up her hands as if to defend herself and backed up into the wall, tears welling up in her eyes as she let out another shriek. “Help!”

“Nothing on earth can help you now—“

Solomon let out a strangled gulp as Aiden appeared in front of him, hand outstretched and eyes welled in concern. “Are you okay?” Solomon exploded in two and faded in the shadows behind Aiden.

Lucy’s eyes widened and she found it a bit hard to breathe. She knew that Aiden was fast and didn’t doubt that he wouldn’t have taken long reach her, but she thought Solomon was going to keep him busy for longer than a millisecond. But she took his hand and got to her feet.

“Y-yeah, I think I’m okay,” Lucy answered, but Aiden wasn’t convinced, his silver eyes scanned her carefully. She found it difficult to look at his stormy-gray eyes, they were intimidating, like staring into a force of nature that could collapse your entire world.

“Can you tell me your name?” he asked.

“Why?”

Without hesitating, Aiden placed one hand on top of her head and Lucy nearly jumped from the gesture. For a moment it felt warm and comforting, like he was petting her, trying to reassure her and promise her that everything will be okay. But Aiden gently prodded the back of her head, checking for injuries.

“I want to see if you actually know your name,” he explained gently.

“Lucy,” she answered.

“Lucy who?”

“Winchester. Lucy Winchester.”

Aiden raised an eyebrow. “Like the—“

“Yeah, like the gun,” Lucy finished with an annoyed frown. “Imagine the teasing I got for it.”

Aiden shrugged, crossing his arms. “At least you don’t have blue hair. If I have to hear ‘gotta go fast’ one more time…”

Lucy laughed, earning a small chuckle from Aiden. When he smiled like that he looked like a normal guy, just a college aged dude not some badass demon hunter. That thought made Lucy a bit sad.

“So, listen. I’ve got somewhere to be, I can give you the directions to a small place.” Aiden began to pat his pockets but Lucy took his hand desperately.

“No, don’t!” she cried, tears falling from her eyes. “Please, you can’t leave me. I’m scared…”

Aiden hesitated for a moment, he appeared conflicted between leaving her and staying. Finally he relented, his shoulders relaxing and he took her other hand. “Okay, okay, I won’t go anywhere, I promise.”

Lucy hugged him suddenly, she was tiny against his height so she looked like his annoying little sister bugging him for a hug. Aiden hesitated but finally returned the hug. “Thank you so much! That demon was terrifying…”

“No prob, but look let’s move somewhere else, it isn’t safe.”

Lucy broke the hug and grinned broadly. “Okay!” she took his hand. “Lead the way.”

John

Mio glared at him almost evilly, which was impressive given she was an angel, but John met the glare with one of his own. He met Mio a few years back, honestly he didn’t have an issue against her, she was one of the few angels that wanted to powerbomb him through the table. Then again Oriel is kinda cool, but he’s a friggin’ point-whore.

“A pleasure as always,” John greeted with a sarcastic smile.

“Who is she?” Mio asked pointedly, turning to Claire. “Another one of your apprentices?”

“Kid sister,” John answered for her. “She wanted to meet an angel and you know how I can’t say no.”

“John..” Mio’s tone grew dark. “What do you want? I am in the middle of a war!”

“How’s that going, by the way?” John took a chair and sat down comfortably. “You look like hell, trust me, I’ve been.”

Mio gripped her sword and thunder roared overhead so powerful the house began to shake a bit. The angel-proof circle was designed to zap an angel’s powers, but if they were strong enough they could break it, Balthazar could because he went full power in an instant but Mio was way stronger than him.

“Release me, John, or I swear…” A sharp pain took Mio’s mind and she fell to her knees, John stood up in surprise and almost approached to offer aid but then she cried out in pain.

Tears fell from her eyes as a single word escaped her lips, “Mayuka…”

“Who?” John asked.

Mio stood up and the room definitely began shaking more, the floorboards cracked. “RELEASE ME!”

This got John nervous. He had faced down countless gods and demons but something told him that this anger was the result of maternal instinct. Hell definitely hath no fury than a woman scorn. Instinctively, John stepped in front of Claire.

“Not until you tell us what we need to know, we’ve got questions,” John said.

“She is gone!” Mio shouted. “I need to find her, I need to protect her!”

Before John could ask who, another pang of pain went through her mind but this was different. This pain was felt ancient, impossibly old, past her time but it still resonated in her very soul. An image appeared in her mind, it was shrouded in a bright light with only two eyes staring at her. Two impossibly old eyes.

“I will rise, and this world will fall.” It echoed in her mind. But as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared.

Mio felt shaken by this image, knowing full well who it was.

Lucifer.

She wondered if she was the only angel to see him.

 

[Piercing Light]

As Doa was flung through the air, she heard a voice resound from inside her mind. Was it... mocking her? Doa righted herself in mid air, and skidded to a halt on the ground. She glared at her surroundings, trying to find the source of the voice. "Hm?..." A strange pink mist caught her attention, it first appeared to be coming from her, then it vanished, and finally an even stranger man materialized from the mist. Whoever he was, he was rather lighthearted about about was happening right now, somehow believing now was the time to jest. Doa simply blinked at his flirtatious attitude, seemingly uncaring. "Do what you want, just... don't mess around in my head again, and don't get in my way." She stated coldly, not bothering to put on airs for someone that hadn't even told her his name. He had also spoken to Vexil, who would swear that he was listening, and would swear that he was willing to answer, however his attention was focused on the strange gathering of pink mist above his head. He had just seen this man arrive in a cloud of the pink substance, so he knew he had to be wary of it.

Sure enough, an ear splitting shatter quaked from the mist, and a large creature was suddenly summoned above Vexil.

"A whale!?"
"A whale!?" Doa and Vexil both declared, dumbfounded.

Luckily for him, Vexil jumped out of the way before he became the first person to ever be flattened by a beached whale. As if this wasn't strange enough, the dark skinned man exchanged words with the sea faring mammal.

"It talks?" Vexil stated in a cocktail of curiosity and bemusement. He was prepared to battle the creature if need be, however a greater threat came to his attention. The blue haired young man began to exude a dangerous aura. His hair turned black, and the air became stifling as if the streets had been plunged underwater. A single thought, no, instinct came over Vexil. I will be killed, if I don't defend myself, I will be killed in an instant.

Aiden moved, though to untrained eyes he appeared to blink from existence. "Shit!" Vexil yelled as furious force was sent his way, he strained his body to move, to get out of the way of this living cyclone of death. He managed to avoid getting sliced in two; the only thing damaged being his cloak. He prepared to defend against another attack, however his assailant had passed by him; as if he wasn't worth it.

"Aiden! What are you doing!?" Doa screamed after him. It wasn't like him to suddenly go berserk like that, he needed a good reason. But what good reason was there?

A realization clicked in her head so hard it snapped her eyes wide. She was still unable to contact Connor, and Mayuka had not been sent to the city as planned. "Impossible..." Doa tried to convince herself that nothing could happen to Mayuka, she knew for a fact that she could handle herself.

But she was not naive, the pieces fit perfectly. Wherever Mayuka was, she was in danger. Every muscle in Doa's body tensed, her aura exploded from her pores and burned like an out of control fire. She kicked off the ground, dashing forward, however Vexil's chains got in her way. A chain once again wrapped around her right hand. "Get out of my way." Doa shot daggers with her eyes right into Vexil. The demon sighed.

"Would you believe me if I said I really couldn't?" He nearly muttered, finding this assignment more bothersome by the second. Doa yanked on Vexil's chain, forcing him to plant his feet to stop himself from being dragged towards her. She was clearly stronger than him, which meant he had to employ another method. Like before he channeled electrify into his chain, it danced across the metal conductor, but stopped halfway as it met a resistance.

"I won't ask you again." Doa said. She had let her aura flow through the chain, making it meet with Vexil's own electricity. The result of the two mixing was a cavalcade of sparks as they each forced more of their influence into it.

"That's good, because I hate to repeat myself." Vexil responded, meeting Doa's air of cold fury with a calm resolve.

The chain exploded, and the two began a long range battle, as Vexil kept the distance between the two with electrified chains, and Doa shot out orbs of explosive aura.

 

[nightmarezeroX9]

At the moment, nothing was happening, besides the blades continuing to fall from the sky. The smoke demon ducked and turned around them, only to be impaled by one of the blades. The demon fell, coughing and wheezing, indicating that the blade had done a significant amount of damage. In this moment, Oriel could have finished off the demon easily. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes from his left pocket, opening the lid and pulling one out with his mouth. Placing them back into the same pocket, he reached in again for his silver zippo lighter. Pulling it out, he flipped the lighter open with his thumb, and turning the flint, causing a flame to flicker from the lighter. Lighting the cigarette and taking a few puffs, he flicked the lid closed with one quick motion, and placed it back into his pocket. Taking a step towards the demon, he was ready to finish it off, before he felt a presence that he thought wouldn't appear. Halting in his tracks, Oriel began scratching his head, unsure how to feel about their arrival. He only muttered a name.

"Mio."

It would probably be within Oriel's best interest to go to her location and give her a report. He would have done so earlier, if he had not encountered the two demons that were in front of him. For her to arrive in Arcadia, though, something serious must have occurred. That, or she was extremely pissed that Oriel never reported in. Deciding on his next course of action, he turned away from the demon. Right before Oriel could depart, the demon behind him stirred. Turning his head to face it one last time, Oriel was met with a surprise. The demon's skull ignited in fire, expanding outwards at an alarming rate. Oriel wasn't nearly fast enough to escape from the flames. Instead of panicking, however, he simply sighed, as he disappeared in a flash of light almost as soon as the flames were right in front of him. In a split second, he had appeared behind the second demon, facing it, and watching the flames continue to roar inside of his barrier. The bottom of his jacket was singed, still burning. Oriel promptly took it off and threw it aside. He had the opportunity to eliminate the demon that was now in front of him, but instead of wasting the time doing that, he needed to head to Mio's location. Well, he didn't necessarily have to, but it would more than likely be better for his health if he did. Oriel's body began to fade from sight, slowly becoming unseen to all around him. Blowing out one more cloud of smoke from his cigarette, he flicked away, with the cigarette flying right past Jet's head.

"Hey, pal, do me a favor. Tell your friend that it's been fun." Those were Oriel's last words before his presence, along any vision of him what so ever, had disappeared entirely. He had used his powers to hid himself in plain sight. Think of it as an active camouflage, but available only during the day time, and with a few more benefits. Oriel had already begun making his way towards Mio, ready to give her a report about the situation in Arcadia. Thinking about what could be going on with all the demons wasn't normally like him, but whatever they were up to, it definitely wasn't good in the long run. It wouldn't take him long to arrive, seeing as he was leaping from rooftop to rooftop at a decent pace, nothing getting in his way at the moment. Before he could move on, however, he landed on the roof of a building, large enough to either be an apartment complex, or a corporate office. His reason for this abrupt stop was a strange feeling that gnawed at the back of his head. It didn't hurt, or anything of the sort. It just felt like a fly was buzzing around the inside of his head, never taking a break from whatever the hell it was doing. Before he could dwell on the feeling that was there, an image of two eyes started directly at him, causing a small gasp of surprise from Oriel. It wasn't every day two eyes from nowhere stared at you like that. The feeling of those eyes was unmistakable, however. The presence that Oriel could feel from them was a presence he had not felt in forever.

It was him.

The image of the eyes disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared. With a new sense of emergency rising up inside him, the angel took another leap, ever closing in on his destination. After about a few more leaps, the area that Oriel could feel Mio's presence. It was coming from an old building. Landing in front of it, Oriel surveyed the building, pondering as to way Mio would come here of all places. Still cloaked due to his powers, Oriel stepped inside of the building, making his way to his target.

 

[Cassette-Disk]

The sword storm had, thankfully, subsided. Before Jet could mention Blanca's actions, the angel it had been fighting had decided to materialize a few inches in front of Jet.
"Aw dude, gay." The Trickster said jokingly as he backed off. The angel had flicked his cigarette past Jet's head, and he was tempted to grab it in mid air just to show that same suave and nonchalantness the angel was currently exhibiting. But then what? Would he smoke it? After the gay joke that would prove contradictory. Besides, knowing angels it was probably just the butt of the cigarette left. Instead the Trickster faked a flinch as it flew past him. He had done nothing besides provide a blunder during the fight, hardly reacting at all when the angel decided to come close enough for a quick strike. It might be best if he showed himself as a non-threat to this angel, at least for the moment.


"Hey, pal, do me a favor. Tell your friend that it's been fun." The angel said as he began to vanish.
"For sure." Jet answered. "I'm sure it feels the same way, in a burning and smoking kind of way." He waited a few seconds after the angel's disappearance before acting again, unsure of how he was leaving. "Mio, huh?" Jet mused as he began to take to the skies once again. "That's interesting."

A sudden icy jolt ran up Jet's spine, catching him by surprise. So much so that it, along with the pain, forced the Trickster to begin falling from the sky in a similar fashion to a failing helicopter. Thankfully, he was able to quickly regain control of his flying card from its death spin.

“The brother moves …delay him …or it is all for naught.”

Brother? Dammit,he knew he should have payed more attention during all those briefings. He wasn't at a loss for long, however, as he was provided with an eye in the sky of his target in exchange for a bit more pain in his right eye. Man, these guys think of everything. Good thing, tonce he was free, Jet zipped off in the direction of the brother. He might not have paid attention to the briefings, but he knew the town well enough to be able to distinguish a street or location when he saw one. Plus the faint wisps of wraiths that had given him his eye cam helped too. In the back of his mind, he told himself he didn't really want to do this. He would much rather find a different demon and just chat. Maybe if he was lucky, that demon would be his new friend from the night before. But he knew better then that. A direct order was one that could never be declined, especially when the person in question could hot wire his brain.

"Oh, he's a quick one." Jet said as he found the brother in question, making sure to stay far enough away to avoid detection. He had planned to construct a roadblock and shoot the breeze a bit with the brother--Hey, a distraction is a distraction--but something else caught the young man's attention as he made his way in an entirely different direction. What he found was a young girl. Jet turned to the wraiths behind him. "Is that good? That's good, isn't it? I don't know if this is good or not, all things considered." The wraiths looked on in grim silence, ignoring the Trickster. "I don't appreciate that kind of attitude, you know." He said as he turned back to his target. "Okay. So he's not heading for her anymore. So we're okay. Which means I don't have to do anything yet. So we're okay. But if the higher ups realize I didn't do anything," Jet took this moment to stick a thumb at the wraiths, who were undoubtedly keeping tabs on him, considering his track record, "that probably wouldn't be okay." He took a deep breath. "Okay." He pulled out a card and pushed on it's center. A rather ugly looking red demon looked back at him. "Hello!" Jet said brightly.
"Whutd'ya want, Jet? I'm in the middle of something."
"We're all in the middle of something, this is a war, you know." The demon on the other end of the mirror growled in response. "Hey, alright let's calm down. I'm calling in a favor. One that involves you beating me up a bit. I know you'd like to do that." The demon's growl vanished and instead was replaced with a wicked smile.
"I'll be un m' way." True to his word, the demon arrived within a minute of the call, but what Jet didn't expect was the three troop he brought with him.
"I didn't okay that." Jet puffed.
"Yuh, but when I says to them I gots to punch you, they wunted to come watch. 'nd maybe punch too."

Jet fell from the sky. That is to say, he was slashed off his ride and plummeted to the ground. That is to say, he crashed somewhere in front of Aiden and Lucy. He weakly got to his feet and turned around, ignoring the pair while clutching his now bleeding arm and looked back up to the sky where the demons were quickly racing towards him.
"I ain't goin' back you ugly sacka worms!" He cried. The main demon had flown down and had gotten a bit too close to him before he swung his arm at him, which he managed to duck under before delivering a kick to the demon's chest, causing him to fly back a bit. "I'm sick and tired of your crap! I ain't a part of your little 'cult' anymore, so deal with it!" It wasn't so much of a risky move. In fact, whether or not Adien believed this man being attacked by his former kin had left Lucifer's army or not didn't matter. If he did, Jet could lead him in a different direction. If he didn't, well, Jet could still stall with a fight. And a small number of demons.

 

[purgatory]

It would appear as if his plan had succeeded. The angel need only to draw breathe while surrounded by the quadriga's smoke, given he was a smoker himself it justified the means of it's end. Deoxgenation through toxins found within the smoke, a mix of active agents dispensed at the demon's leisure. Though how could the angel know...of such a human characterized method of submission? The answer was, the angel could not comprehend this, it was what Blanca chose to accept as its body incinerated and its heart expunged itself in fire reducing itself to the mere floating air and gas particles that lingered inside of the barrier.

The angel had been charred, and it flickered away almost instantaneously. In it's current state, reduced to smoke, Blanca found this act faintly humorous, why disregard that kind of movement until now? It seemed the angel grew impatient or felt a sense of urgency as the it muttered under it's breath while inside of its own barrier trapped with Blanca, the name "Mio." Leaving as soon as possible as the fire was so great it splintered outside of the barrier connecting with the rim of the cut off line Blanca put into place.

The explosion was easily put as "abnormal". After it expanded to its full length, the red hot center did not diminish in heat nor power, it was completely willed together of the demon's own volition. Given this was the second time Blanca had ever exploded it seemed to be able to gain a comprehensive control over its ability to release its smoke manipulation potently when using its own body as the trigger mechanism. Slowly as the frozen explosion that was Blanca, emitted a radiant red and white source of heat that could be seen across Arcadia, it aura fading potently giving way as the demon was reversing the effects of the combustion.

Literally the self infused, the power of the explosion was being amassed inwards, this was a time consuming process. The explosion was slowly but surely reverting inwards, by this time the Angel and Jet had already abandoned the scene for much more pressing demands it seemed. Finally being left to its isolation as it could understand it's orders from before, putting itself back together in a much more potent form after a self-sacrificial technique was at the very least, time-consuming. With the sudden change as the explosion just began to shrink and compress, finally the light and blazing heat was almost cryptic, showing the exoskeleton of the demon's bones, feverishly boiling over yet not melting. It's skull was a mesh of bubbling calcium, quickly being patterned with skin as it was compressing the power of the explosion much more rapidly than when it first stopped minutes before. A visible face of the brunette Blanca, its skin texturized and returned to its pale white and adorned ashen color. Long hair, flickering away from the wind as it stood nude on the abandoned building, four markings on it's exposed left breast. They were red LED lights, and one of them had been shut off it seemed, they were shaped like emblazoned gemstones, and three of them remained.

As the demon had wasted precious minutes, at least seven pulling itself together the smoke around the city had been lifted. The quadriga had no choice but to draw in as much as it could in order to put it's body back together after loosing one of it's four hearts to enact that sacrificial blow. It mattered not, for it'd accomplished two tasks simultaneously and Blanca felt this would not be the last time.

"That still took much longer than expected. It seems I still can't put myself back together as fast from a self-induced explosion, its not nearly as potent as my transformation ability. It's significantly faster than last time, I was indisposed of for twenty six-minutes before." It spoke to itself and then raised its head. "Onto assist Vexil."

Right before the demon took off on it's full bearings, it had a bit of a heinous glow that enriched itself across it's face. Blanca was, interestingly enough growing some manner of personality beyond it's usual mindlessness. It enjoyed it's rapid string of growth, appreciated how it built upon its own dexterity and endurance. As Blanca's hands shook, they soon became fist that trembled with a mixed feeling of both panic and excitement, was this a thrill? Around it's body it began to generate smoke, perhaps a point of it's dexterity as it was never this proficient before at doing this.

"Okay!" It's shouted completely alone and with a hardened smile, releasing more of its potent demonic aura and becoming a smoke projectile, zipping along the roof tops, covering far more distance in two seconds than normal. It had easily doubled its normal seven to ten meter jump to fourteen to twenty meters. This angel had it's gratitude of that much could be certain. It's body was still naked and similar to that of a human woman's, despite being unusually fair skinned (pale). The demon's red eyes were the indicator of abnormality, but Blanca's transformation ability tinted them dark brown. As it hurried to Vexil, the sound of moving chains and current were the dead give away.

Holding it's position, the quadriga did was with best respects to the situation, it simply waited while slowly dispersing it's particles of smoke from surrounding source, thickening them. Emitting from itself soon the the smoke at first thinned out wide across it's position an soon thickened before rapidly moving inward to cover the location, naturally, inhalation was expressly forbidden as always. This was smoke, not mist, there was no oxygen here and though it may be a pain for Vexil he'd simply have to hold his breathe until he could determine where he was, and give him an unaffected air pocket.

'Sit tight. Don't do anything crazy...yet.'

The naked quadriga reminisced and was trying to form a plan, but it needed to directly talk to Vexil without revealing itself.

 

[Lumine]

This is Stupid.

Claire thought as she took the lit match from John. What she was about to do was probably the stupidest thing she will ever do. She felt like a stretched string waiting to snap at any given second. That was exactly what Alyss didn't want her getting herself into. It isn't enough that she didn't like her line of work which involved demons all the time. She had to go and summon something much worse. An Angel. To Angels, Nephilims were hideous abominations that should never tread earth's surface ever again. Their existence in and of itself is an unforgivable sin. There was no winning deal to her side, if demons wanted her blood on altars and her soul in hell, Angels wanted her very existence burned out of the universe and history. But Claire knew that John was right. If anyone knew what was going on, it would be the Angels.

She let the match fall, her gaze following its burning tip as it raced downward. Don't try anything stupid Claire, she heard her aunt's voice in her mind. It was the last thing she told her before she went off on that hunt. People often thought that she was reprimanding her with that kind of tone, but Claire knew that she was almost pleading with her. That no matter how cool and controlled she often seems, that she always worries. And Claire felt bad for betraying her words, for going against everything she told her to not to do. But she knew what she was doing was the right thing to do, she felt that it would lead her to the truth. Nobody ever said that right things aren't necessarily stupid.

The moment the match hit the strange brew of ingredients at the center of the pentagram, a red light flared forth and died out as quickly leaving a trail of smoke that smelled like early morning dew and an incredibly beautiful woman standing where the ingredients were mere seconds ago. Despite appearing utterly battle worn and exhausted, Claire couldn't but notice how graceful and stunning she looked in her battle armor. Even her aura was so pure and unwavering, filled with immense power, something she had thought she would never encounter again in her lifetime. It brought within her a hazy memory though of something equally beautiful and terrible. This wasn't the first angel she met. She had met another before. She couldn't remember what or who exactly, but she felt fear well within her at the memory. Even though she looked collected on the outside, her gray eyes focused and her body relaxed, she felt so alert. Her index finger lightly touching the cool surface of the crystal ring on her thumb. Solapris was caging and suppressing her aura, like a dam barely holding a raging flood, but it was also the only means of protection to her identity and the only thing that kept her breathing until now. It protected her before and it won't fail her now. The angel can't know.

As it appeared, the Angels were at war and a tough one as it seems. Mio, the Angel they summoned, was not in the least happy with the sudden calling, even more so with meeting John. He didn't seem to have been on the good side before her, not with that Angel Blade he was waving at her which Claire thought was a bad move. She didn't comment though, he was aware of what he was doing and she understood why he'd need any form of protection against someone so overwhelmingly strong like her. She was slightly irritated at how he treated her like a kid though, almost rolled her eyes, but she was used to that sometimes from some of her more seasoned or older peers. Well, was used to. She remembered bitterly that none of them is even alive anymore, and the thought made her even more distraught and uneasy about Alyss. Worry gnawing slowly at her nerves in the back of her mind.

All of a sudden, Mio seemed to have lost her cool. Tears welled up in her eyes and she seemed sincerely in pain. No, even in agony. Something must have terribly gone wrong. A fear flashed in her lovely eyes, one that Claire knew all too well. There was nothing worse than knowing a loved one was at steep danger, like your heart is going to split and the world will eternally shatter into jagged pieces of awful, unbearable reality.

“RELEASE ME!” her voice flared with anger, and so did the house. It shook violently, the floorboards dislodging, the ceiling cracking. Claire took a step back, feeling threatened. Mio's aura was so hectic, and chaotic now, that Claire genuinely considered taking Solapris off if only to have a chance of getting herself and John out alive of this.

“Not until you tell us what we need to know, we’ve got questions,” John pressed on, putting himself between Mio and herself. Claire felt that this wasn't heading to a good ending. She had to act. She felt Mio's pain, she understood, she wished she didn't, but she knew, she related so much to what she was experiencing that the pain was almost her own and it hurt. She felt torn.

“She is gone!” Mio shouted. “I need to find her, I need to protect her!”

I know, Claire's serene features softened, her translucent grays welling with sadness so deep that one would think the pain was hers. She wanted to stop this, they had to let her go, she couldn't stand seeing her in so much pain. But then what will they do after that? How can they stand any chance at defending themselves if they don't know what they are facing. How can they have any hope of protecting those who matter the most when they can't even protect themselves?

"Please," Claire moved before John could stop her, before she even understood what she was doing. She just couldn't fight her feelings anymore, she was following her gut. She stepped right into the circle throwing every sense of caution out of the window "We need your help" her voice rung soft and sincere.

" I know. I know how you feel " She looked right into Mio's eyes, " I too have someone I love in grave danger and I can't do anything to protect them. Nothing. Not until you tell us what is going on. Please. " She knew that any moment Mio could break out of this circle. She knew that any moment she might be dead. She knew that her call for help might not be heeded, but she was willing to take a risk to believe in the goodness within Mio. To know what is going on. To have even the slightest chance of finding Alyss and saving innocent lives.

She stretched out her hand to help Mio up, but was jolted back by a most terrible feeling.

She gasped, stumbling backwards till she hit the table and caught it for balance, a slight tremble grasped her willowy frame at the vision she had experienced. Even behind her closed eyelids, it was burned deep in her consciousness now. That dreadful and ancient presence, the horrific cold that gripped her soul and twisted her stomach into knots of fear. Those sickeningly red eyes peering back at her with malice. She tried to push the horrible images that assaulted her mind away. Taking deep breaths and steadying her thoughts, until she found the light of clarity. Not again....

"What was that?" She looked at Mio in utter confusion.

 

[King Wolfe]

Heaven was in complete disarray. Angels were injured by the thousands and some of them were even unable to reenter Heaven due to the nature of their injuries. Naomi scrambled to set in some order in this madness, she brushed off Inias’s morbid report of a flood in Delphi, she tried her best to ignore the angels that returned with burns and scars and called the medics to tend to them.

Naomi headed for Mio’s office and shut the door behind her. She took a moment to compose herself and catch her breath, since Mio’s strange disappearance (something that Naomi had deduced as a rudimentary conjuring spell but failed in tracing the origin) everything seemed to crash down around her. Naomi reluctantly took up Mio’s position but she wasn’t cut out for the job.

Naomi worked in Intelligence. Gathering information, cloak-and-dagger business and counter-intel, she wasn’t a frontline soldier. But in the first days of the war, the Intelligence Division was the first to fall, Naomi wasn’t sure if they were all killed or if they were merely scattered. Mio had found Naomi at the bottom of the ocean and rescued her, if it wasn’t for her Naomi surely would’ve…

Her legs failed her and Naomi fell on her butt. Hugging her knees, Naomi allowed herself a moment to cry. Such a human concept: fear, angry, worry. Naomi never would’ve thought such fears could get to her, she was designed in His image. A perfect celestial being for war. Here she was, crying like a human.

Naomi had once asked Mio why she was so attached to humans. Of course angels were tasked at being the guardians for humanity but they were meant to stand back and observe, rarely interfere. Mio was one of those rare angels that become deeply involved with humanity.

Mio answered, “They gave me hope and showed me love.”

That confused Naomi.

Love?

Naomi knew love. She loved her Father as every other angel had (well, except perhaps Raphael) that wasn’t too hard of a concept. But Mio corrected her. “It is a different sort of love. Our love to God is unconditional, because we know it will always be returned. But with humans it is… different. Scary, unknown, like jumping into a dark canyon with no idea what lies inside.”

That didn’t help Naomi understand. How could something that scares an angel be something one could enjoy?

Naomi stood up and wiped her face. Mio was scared, her leader, an angel that Naomi would jump into Hell for was scared and probably alone. Sitting here crying wouldn’t do anyone any good, if Mio can put herself out there for the sake of love, Naomi can do that same.

She stepped outside just in time to see Balthazar materialized in the middle of the War Room. Well, in truth there wasn’t exactly a strong military base in Heaven anymore. Raphael, when he was around, led the military compound but since he and the other archangels have gone MIA no one has been able to enter.

Mio picked this particularl part of Heaven as the War Room which Naomi considered a shame. “Heaven” wasn’t an entire realm, not really. Heaven is comprised generally from the souls of the humans that dwell here, their individual memories compose Heaven’s appearance. Mio picked a woman from Ancient Greece (Naomi thinks it was some daughter of Poseidon) and used her memories as the War Room.

The “War Room” was actually a temple of Athena and the beautiful garden that laid outside. It was an amazing sight, the marble columns were brand new and all sorts of flora were elegantly picked out and set up just outside. When Naomi asked Mio why she picked this place, she’d answer, “So we’d remember what we’re fighting for.”

Balthazar looked the same as always, brooding and sharply dressed, it bothered Naomi. While it wasn’t required for the angels to wear their armor, to Naomi it felt rude when they didn’t. There were hundreds of angels hurt and dying and they stroll up here like they’re big stuff. Naomi contained her annoyance when Balthazar approached her.

“Where is Mio?” he asked.

“Where is your armor?” Naomi snapped back, turning back to Inias.

“Arcadia is still in the dark,” Inias whispered to Naomi. “We can’t get through.”

“That shouldn’t be an issue anymore,” Balthazar announced smugly.

Naomi resisted the urge to strangle the arrogant prick. “And why is that?”

Balthazar held out his hand and an angel blade appeared in it except… it wasn’t an angel blade, it was..

“An archangel’s blade?” Naomi gasped. “How—“

“One of them must’ve left it in the Vault,” Balthazar answered. “Rather silly of them if you ask me.”

This could help turn the tides, an archangel’s weapon was 100x stronger than an angel’s weapon. It wasn’t like having an actual archangel, but it’ll give them a good enough advantage to push back the demons, an archangel’s weapon was like a heavenly WMD.

“Excellent!” Naomi cheered. “Bring the weapon to Mio and we can turn this war around!”

A wicked smile came to Balthazar’s face and he took a step back. “Oh, I don’t think so…”

“What? But with that weapon we could win this war in a day!” Naomi argued.

“Oh, I know. But why should that tainted angel get all the credit? She is weak!”

Naomi stepped forward angrily but Inias held her back. “Take that back!”

Balthazar pointed his sword at Naomi which thankfully spurred the other angels. They stood and began to surround Balthazar. “You are a fool, trying to overtake this place singlehandedly,” Inias remarked with a sneer.

“Who said I was alone?” Balthazar snapped his fingers and a dozen of angels materialized in the War Room, their weapons drawn and aimed at those sided with Mio.

“Stop this!” Naomi cried. “We cannot afford a civil war, not with all of this going on!”

“There won’t be a civil war,” Balthazar corrected. “For I contain the only WMD in Heaven available. You will all follow me to victory, or be slaughtered…”

For a terrifying moment, those under Mio’s command began to waver. “Your leader is too weak-willed to save you,” Balthazar continued. “She follows the humans to their dooms, even now she has abandoned you to be with them!”

“She was taken!” Naomi shouted. “We can’t track her!”

“Maybe you can’t,” Balthazar agreed. “But with this, I can.”

Balthazar snapped his fingers, “Let there be light.”

The shield surrounding Arcadia disappeared and for the first time in a very long time the angels could sense what was going on there. Instantly, Naomi sensed Mio’s presence… with two humans.

“You can sense her, can’t you?” Balthazar goaded. “Conspiring with humans.”

“We are meant to protect them!” Inias argued.

“They are like protozoa,” Balthazar corrected. “Beneath us. Sure, we will protect them, but we come first. Mio has been tainted by humanity, the filthy half-blood has no place here.”

Naomi took a step forward, weapon drawn. “You!” She swung at Balthazar, intended to take his head but he merely raised his sword and when she connected she was blown back. If she were human, her arm would’ve easily broken from that impact, even Balthazar looked surprised by how strong his weapon was.

“You will be the example,” Balthazar said, approaching Naomi with his weapon aimed right at her heart. He struck downward, ready to strike her dead and Naomi closed her eyes, wondering if this was the last thing she would see…

Inias leapt in front of Balthazar and took the weapon to his chest. Inias let out a horrible cry of pain and agony as his entire body glowed with a bright blue light and he fell over dead.

Tears welled in Naomi’s eyes and before she could do anything, Balthazar was reeling back for another attack so she teleported away.

Naomi fell right in the middle of the street in downtown Arcadia, tears fell from her eyes as she mourned Inias.

“I need to find…” An image burned into her mind, two impossible eyes that stared into her very soul and pulled out all of her fears.

“Lucifer,” Naomi muttered. She got to her feet and decidedly began to head to Mio’s location as quickly as possible. Her “wings” were burnt up in reentry, it’ll take a moment to cool down so she’d be hoofing it for now.

Hopefully she wasn’t too late.

Balthazar took a seat in the middle of the garden and addressed his new garrison. Hundreds of angels under his command, soon it’d be all of them.

“Michael is the only angel capable of killing our brother,” Balthazar told them. “But right now he is… disposed. Worry not, however. I will save us, I have a plan.”

Balthazar snapped his fingers and a large projection appeared behind him and a young girl appeared in the image. Her curly red hair was as distinctive as her impossible red eyes.

“The Last Phoenix,” Balthazar explained. “With the Last Black Mage.”

The image shifted to show Dante by her side, expression fixed in a grim frown. “Two damnable monsters if you ask me.. But the phoenix could be used to our advantage…”

“Retrieve her,” Balthazar ordered. “And we will put an end to this war.”

Dante & Elyse
The duo walked down Arcadia as if they were friends upon the town. Considering how empty it was, Dante figured that Section III’s evacuation policy must’ve gone into effect. Dante still had mixed feelings about Section III, sure he had plenty of friends who worked with them but he still felt skittish around them.

The very first day that Dante walked into the Section III base, he sensed something was off. That he didn’t belong there, walking into enemy territory. Lupa had explained that Section III had closer ties to the ancient Greek pantheon and that since she was part of the younger Roman gods that they instinctively didn’t mix.

While Dante had his own concerns with secret government organizations, he didn’t have anything personal against Section III. Despite being labeled a high-risk vector, they left him in peace and even offered him a job if he really wanted. They were okay, but Dante couldn’t help but wonder where they were.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Lupa asked.

Dante ruffled up his curly hair and frowned. “This whole situation is fishy…”

“I’m not very fond of fish,” she confided.

“This doesn’t feel like a war,” Dante continued. “Sure there are demons all around, but where are the angels?”

“Glorified feather dusters, if you ask me.”

“We met Mio and Raphael, where the hell are they?” Dante asked. “Raphael in particular was crazy strong, he shrugged off your magic like it was nothing.”

“Maybe they’re busy,” Lupa offered. “This war isn’t just in Arcadia. I can sense millions of demons everywhere.”

Dante stayed quiet for a moment, considering what Lupa suggested and he didn’t agree with that. It felt like there was another reason, something staring at him blank in the face and he didn’t realize. Then again, Lupa is an ancient Roman goddess who has been in plenty of fights and wars, she probably knows what she’s talking about.

“Dante!” Elyse called, lightly jogging her way back. “I still can’t get anything with my magic, and this Section III communicator isn’t working.”

“Wait, where did you get a communicator?”

Elyse shrugged and gave a sly grin. “I may have taken it from Octavia as a parting gift, you aren’t the only one with fast hands.”

Dante blinked and stared at Elyse with a mixture of awe and fear. Someone who is capable of pickpocketing Octavia is nearly unheard of, then again with how devious she was Octavia probably planned for Elyse to steal from her.

“Give it back to her when she returns,” Dante said to Elyse’s slight pout. “But I can’t get anything with my magic either.”

“And I’m blocked as well,” Lupa chimed in. “Can’t get any of the gods I know to answer me.”

“We’re on our own…” Elyse remarked sadly.

Dante placed a hand on Elyse’s head, messing up her hair a bit. “So what? We’ll get through this, we just keep fighting and find an ally in this whole mess. I’d go for Isaac, personally.”

Elyse made a face. “Really? I like Mayuka better.”

“Connor always was the best at playing fetch…” Lupa sighed dreamily.

“You told me I was the best…” Dante muttered.

“Guys, wait did you feel that?” Elyse interrupted.

Dante and Lupa paused for a moment and tried to listen. “… No, what?”

“I think it’s… feathers?”

Three men in armor materialized around Elyse, their eyes glowing blue and Dante could see something on their backs… wings?

“Angels?” Lupa cursed.

Before anyone could do anything, however, the angels struck out. The one closest to Dante brandished his weapon, a golden lance, and tried to stab him, and the two by Elyse reached out to grab her. Elyse immediately broke out in a blaze, shooting columns of fire at the angels… which had no effect, they merely brushed the flames off their armor and rushed out to attack again.

Lupa immediately morphed into her godly form and leapt into action, swiping the two angels back and exhaling an energy blast at the third. They were thrown back but recovered instantaneously. One of them reappeared in front of Lupa, grabbed her by her throat and threw her across the street with incredible ease.

Dante’s skin began turning blue as magic exploded from his body. Firing off a magical round at the angel, Dante charged the second one and dropped a devastating side-kick to his head. Finally, the third was occupied with Elyse who began to melt the street with her fire.

Her eyes glowed molten red as her voice warped into the phoenix’s, “You puny celestial creatures, you will burn like everything else before me.”

“I don’t think so,” muttered the angel. As fast as thought, the angel was right in front of Elyse, slamming his hand into her head and dropping her to the ground. Elyse’s body glowed bright blue and she let out a shrill shriek as her fire magic disappeared.

“Elyse!” Dante roared, running toward her but the angel was infinitely faster. He was suddenly right in front of Dante and grabbed him by the neck and body-slammed him into the street, cracking the concrete.

“You will die,” the angel told Dante. “As the rest of your wretched kind had by your hand.”

The angel brandished his weapon and prepared to drop it into Dante’s heart… when a flash of light slammed into the angel and threw him off Dante. Rolling to his feet, Dante saw what saved him, a woman with messy brunette hair was wrestling with the angel… wings were clearly on her back as well but they were blackened and burned.

The female angel managed to pin her opponent. “Bartholomew, what’re you doing?! Attacking humans!”

“They are hardly humans,” Bartholomew snarled back. “A phoenix and Black Mage? They are monsters… Besides we have our orders.”

“What does Balthazar need with them?” Naomi demanded.

“Not all of them… Only the girl…”

“What—“

Bartholomew’s partners tackled Naomi off but Dante as up as well. His hands filled with magic that he fired at the angels but they teleported the instant it got close and reappeared by Elyse’s unconscious body.

“Don’t touch her!” Dante roared but the angels bent down and placed a hand on her forehead… and they all disappeared.

Dante cried in anguish as he slammed his fists into the spot where Elyse previously was. The only thought that went through his mind was the fact that Elyse was his responsibility, that he allowed her to jump into this mess and because of him she was gone to God knows where.

“Dante…” Lupa said sadly, she had reverted to her puppy form and she didn’t look good. Her fur was singed and her neck was bruised, there was a clear hand print on there that looks like it was done with a cattle brand. “We’ll find her.”

“How exactly?”

Lupa shook her fur up slightly, as if her fur was really bothering her. “I can still sense her, but she’s really far away. Honestly, I think she’s closer to Olympus than she is here.”

“Heaven…” Naomi gasped, struggling to get to her feet. “I believe they took her to Heaven.”

Dante growled as he got to his feet and grabbed Naomi by her armor and standing her up, his free hand ignited in flames. “Why did they take her? What the hell is going on? Elyse isn’t a demon, why are angels going after her?”

Naomi tried to push Dante away but in her weakened state she could barely manage to stay on her feet. “I don’t know.”

“That’s really not a good enough answer!”

“Balthazar had ordered it,” Naomi continued. “But why exactly escapes me.”

“And why exactly should I believe you?”

“Because you’re you,” Lupa answered. “You’re pissed.”

“Wow, no shit, Sherlock.”

“—But you know she isn’t lying. Look at her!” Lupa pointed at Naomi. “She can barely stay on her feet and she saved you.”

Dante frowned but he knew Lupa was right. He let Naomi go but held on to her arm as she looked like she was ready to keel over. Naomi was absurdly tiny, Dante realized, she was barely at his chest but he saw how fast she was and how she fought. Even in her weakened state, Naomi put up a hell of a fight.

“I can’t go to Heaven in this state,” Naomi said. “Besides even if I could, Balthazar’s forces would intercept me.”

Dante looked at Naomi’s back, her wings looked like hell. “Your wings look like they’re going to fall off.”

Naomi’s eyes widened and a blush came across her face. “Y-you can see my wings?!”

“Um, yeah, of course I can. They’re pretty big,” Dante remarked.

Naomi’s wings folded inward nervously. “Mortals can’t see an angel’s wings or halo, their senses are too dull.”

“Then it is pretty weird that Dante can see them,” Lupa agreed, hopping on Dante’s shoulders. “He’s the dullest tool in the shed, after all.”

“We’ll need to get to Heaven somehow,” Dante said, ignoring Lupa. “How’re we going to do so?”

“First, you need to get off the angel’s radar,” Naomi explained.

“Alright, cool, how?”

“It won’t be pleasant…”

Dante raised an eyebrow. “It’s fine, just tell me how—OWWW!” Naomi placed a hand on Dante’s stomach and a burning sensation filled his insides, it felt like someone craved his ribcage with a hot blade. Dante cursed in Italian and pulled up his shirt, expecting to see burn marks but there was nothing of the sort.

“Enochian ward,” Naomi explained. “It makes you invisible to angels.”

“Even you?” Dante asked in-between the whimpering.

“Yep. Alright, you next Lupa.”

“I’m a god,” Lupa scoffed. “I hardly need a simple ward, please. I’ve toppled regimes before, I was there when Rome fell. I am the oncoming storm, the bringer of darkness—“

Dante picked up Lupa and held her for Naomi. “Alright, go ahead.”

“Dante! You little!!!—OWWW! SON OF CYCLOPES!”

Lupa whimpered pathetically but she’d get over it, the big baby. “Alright, now that we’re working together, what’s your name?”

“Naomi.”

“I’m Dante, this is Lupa. If we don’t all die a horrible death, you should hang out at our place, we’ve got horses.”

Aiden

Aiden stared as this new dude literally dropped from the sky and crashed in front of them. He stood in front of Lucy defensively and Lucy could only roll her eyes twice at how ridiculous Jet was behaving. Sure, he was a trickster and all but he only has one job.

Still, for Aiden’s sake, she feigned fear as she watched the impeccable Trickster fight off his demonic attackers.

“A-Aiden, who is he?” Lucy stammered.

But, surprisingly enough, Aiden wasn’t even watching the man anymore and decidedly walked away, holding Lucy’s hand as he walked. “W-wait!” Lucy cried, trying to pull Aiden back slightly. “He might be dangerous! Or an ally! Or just a really lost circus performer, either way we should investigate!”

“Some guy dropped from the sky, talking about the same cult that I’ve been fighting for quite some time now. I think the best course of action is to avoid him,” Aiden curtly answered.

Lucy tried to pull Aiden back but it was like pulling a building with legs. “He might be dangerous then! You should take care of him!”

Aiden glanced at the guy with an unimpressed expression. “If he’s getting kicked out of a demonic cult, I don’t think we have much to worry about.”

He turned back around and tried to continue walking and Lucy gave Jet an exasperated look like, Well, don’t just stand there! Stop him!

John

So far, this wasn’t going in John’s favor. Then again, things rarely did.

Mio was losing her cool and was threatening to level this whole building with her rage alone, something John figured was entirely possible.

Claire approached Mio quickly before John could hold her back and he cursed himself for not being alert. Alyss would kill him if anything happened to Claire under his watch, but thankfully Mio wasn’t in a smiting sort of mood.
Mio merely watched Claire with a sad expression. John was losing whatever leverage he had against the angel, his stolen weapon was a good enough angle but Mio was obviously strong enough to repel John before he could even attempt anything. Then John’s mind raced, putting these wild thoughts together.

The way Mio looked at Claire was… motherly.

Impossible, angels don’t have kids. Well, unless the kid was half-angel. Mio did mention a name… Mayuka, after that she went batshit insane, maybe…

Before John could work on this angle, however, Claire jumped back like she had been shocked and stumbled into the table, gasping. John grabbed Claire’s arm and kept her from falling over, before he could ask what happened Mio was going through the same thing.

Something that only affected women?

No time for jokes, Johnnie boy.

Mio’s an angel, if something was affecting her but not John it must be an angel thing, but why was Claire feeling the effects? Was it because she was next to Mio? No, that doesn’t make sense.

Mio’s eyes registered pure confusion as she stared at Claire like she was seeing her for the first time. Slowly, she got to her feet. “How.. did you see that too? But how could—“

John stepped forward before Mio could complete that thought and pointed his weapon at her. He stood in-between Mio and Claire, keeping Claire back with his free hand but if he was right then trying to overpower her would be useless.

“Now that your psychotic episode is over, let’s get back to here and now,” John said with his best scary-cop voice he could muster.

“John…” Mio growled.

“You know me, Mio,” John continued. “You know exactly what I’m capable of. Remember how I handled Anansi?”

Mio slowly nodded, screaming giant spiders engulfed in flames crossed her mind. “That’ll be you if you don’t cooperate.”

For a moment, Mio said nothing, only maintaining her glaring contest with John. But then she broke eye-contact and looked at Claire for a fleeting moment, putting the pieces together in her mind.

“Fine. Ask away.”

“The demons, what’re they planning?” John asked without hesitating.

“To bring Lucifer into this world and bring about the apocalypse,” Mio answered sarcastically. “I thought you were smart, John.”

“Shit, that means even you don’t know their endgame,” John muttered. “The archangels, where are they? I thought we could at least get Gabriel or Michael down here.”

Mio shook her head and folded her arms. “Gabriel is in the wind and Michael is unable to help. He still needs a vessel, the wrong vessel and he could burn them up in seconds.”

A vessel, hm?

Ideas formulated in John’s head, none of which were good for his health. He glanced at Claire, she probably wouldn’t have been happy with John’s treatment but that hardly mattered. As long as Claire was safe, how she felt didn’t matter.

“You alright?” John asked. “Can’t having you keel over, kid.”

“I’ve answered you, John. Now release me,” Mio ordered.

“It’s your daughter, isn’t it?” John asked, Mio’s face turned ghostly pale. “She’s in danger?”

Mio could barely contain her emotion she was shaking so much. “How--…”

“I’m not just a pretty face, love,” John answered. “Do you know what’s going on with her?”

Mio shook her head. “She’s just… gone. As if she never existed, I can’t sense her.”

“Well that’s fine,” John said to Mio’s aggravation. “As long as I’ve got her first and last name, I could easily summon her.”

“Really?!”

“Of course. Best occultist in the world, after all, just go for a run to the shop and we can get started—“

Five angels materialized right behind Mio and raised their hands. John could only conjure a minor defensive spell for himself and yell, “Claire! Watch—“

A beam of light crashed into John’s shield and sent him crashing through the wall and the next two rooms before collapsing to the ground. Before John could get to his feet, one of the angels appeared before him and reached for his throat. John reached for his blade and stabbed at the angel, barely missing and grazing his side. Where the wound was created a bright blue light shone through and the angel winced in pain.

“You should’ve minded your own business, exorcist!” the angel roared.

John held up his forearm and muttered a quick offensive spell. A blast of light shot from his arm and stunned the angel, long enough for John to jump to his feet and stabbed the angel in the gut. The angel let out a roar as his entire body glowed blue and he dropped dead.

Mio whirled around as quickly as she could and brought her shield up to defend against the angels. She blocked their strikes but she was horribly outnumbered and in an anti-angel circle, she wasn’t sure if Claire was knocked back from the attack but Mio had to give it a shot.

Grabbing her shield, Mio stabbed the ground with it and a tremor shook the entire room, destroying the spell-circle. But the angels surrounded her quickly and grabbed her, Mio could only do what she thought was the safest for these humans.

Disappear.

Mio teleported away from the house, away from Arcadia, miles and miles away.

She reappeared in Rome, crashing into the ground with the four remaining angels and rolled to her feet, brandishing her sword.

“What are you doing?” Mio asked. “Are we not comrades?!”

“We are under Balthazar’s command,” one of the angels answered. “Either you follow or you will die in vain.”

“Right…” Mio pointed her sword at them. “Let’s see how that’ll work out for you.”

 

[nightmarezeroX9]

The building was old, a little musty, and definitely somewhere you wouldn't bring a girl on a first date. Unless she was the type of person that enjoyed walking around in old, decrepit, areas. Hey, everyone has their own preferences. As Oriel navigated the building towards Mio, he could hear the faint sounds of two people speaking. One of which he immediately recognized as Mio, and the other was a voice that Oriel had not heard in quite a while. And by while, it was probably a couple of weeks or so. John Winters. A human exorcist. Despite being human, he was easily able to fend off attacks from demons, and could hold his own in a fight with an angel. Thinking about it, however, what was Mio doing with John? Did she happen to run into him when she got here, and decided to ask John questions about the ongoing situation? It would be a much better plan of Mio sought out Oriel instead, but it's also possible that she was angry towards him for not reporting in. Getting closer to the room, Oriel could hear the sounds of another female talking. Now this was a voice that he had never heard before. A complete stranger. The way she was speaking, it sounded like she was trying to calm Mio down.

Shit, she really is pissed. Perhaps I should just be on my way and pretend I was never here... However, instead of turning around and walking away like he had planned in his mind, his feet kept walking towards his destination. Thinking about it further, it probably wouldn't be a great idea if Oriel just walked away. The voices grew a bit louder as Oriel closed in. As soon as he reached the hallway where the room was located, the presence of five angels had materialized out of thin air. They were located in the same room as John, Mio, and the mystery girl. As soon as they appeared, shouting was heard, followed by the distinct sound of someone being sent through a couple of walls. Following that small string of events, the entire building had begun to shook, and Oriel nearly fell over, quickly catching his balance by levitating in mid air. Once the tremors subsided, Mio's presence disappeared for a split second. She was no longer in Arcadia. His sense of emergency kicking in, Oriel flew the very short distance to the doorway of the room, still hidden within broad daylight.

Upon taking a glance in the room, Oriel saw three things he was assured were still there: John, a girl, and a couple of holes in the wall that lead to another room, and judging by the way things looked, John was the one sent through both of them. Among this lovely sight was something else that shocked Oriel. It was a dead angel. In John's hand was an angel's blade, stained with the blood of Oriel's fallen comrade. The emotion he was feeling was really anger, but something along the lines of irritation. There was a dead angel, a missing angel who Oriel kind of really needed to talk to, and the killer of the previously stated angel, along with a badly damaged room, and a girl that somehow doesn't fit into any of this at all. Standing there and trying to process everything wasn't going to get anyone anywhere, so the obvious choice was to question John about it. Hopefully Oriel would get a straight answer out of him. Right now wasn't the time to beat around the bush, especially considering everything that's going on in Arcadia. Within the blink of an eye, Oriel was standing before John and the girl, with a puzzled, and irritated look on his face. He looked directly to John, and glanced the girl, then looked back to John. Oriel took a few steps forward before taking a deep breath, and then rubbed his eyes for a few seconds.

"Hello John. It's always a pleasure to see you." Grabbing a chair that was laying on the floor and propping it back up, Oriel took a seat, and crossed his left leg over his right. He sighed, then put his hands together and placed them in his lap "You can introduce me to your friend later. For now, I'd like to know why that particular angel is dead. Furthermore, what the hell happened to Mio?" Oriel had taken a cigarette out from his pack, and placed in his mouth and lit it, taking a few hits before ashing it on the floor. He sat in the chair patiently, staring directly at John through the small cloud of smoke that began to form in front of Oriel. Whatever the answer was, Oriel was expecting it be something extremely unlikely and unbelievable.

Unfortunately for Oriel, that would more than likely be the truth.